CEPA Forum 2018
“Winning the 21st Century–Allied Strength and Solidarity” – was the theme of this year’s conference organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington.
SOURCE: CEPA
During the discussion, one of the most important topics discussed was the involvement of the European Union in supporting NATO in the form of expanding the infrastructure, which would increase the mobilization and logistic capabilities of the alliance. The panellists debated the need to increase spending on armaments on the side of European NATO members, the burden-sharing mechanism and effective means of administering defense spending. In addition to the challenges that stand in the way of strengthening the alliance, new threats were also discussed, including disinformation campaigns, corruption, international economic crime and cyber attacks. An important element of the discussion was energy security and the criticism of Nord Stream 2 as a project striking European solidarity and threatening the security of the whole of Europe – not only in the economic, but geopolitical and military context. CEPA Forum is the annual leading conference on transatlantic security in Washington. This year’s edition brought together over 300 experts and decision makers.
SOURCE: CEPA
The conference was attended by:
James F. Pasquarette (Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, United States), Miroslav Lajčák (Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovakia), Jacek Czaputowicz (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Poland), Linas Linkevičius (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania), Mihai-Viorel Fifor (Minister of Defense, Romania), Ana Birchall (Vice Prime Minister for Romania’s Strategic Partnerships’ Implementation, Romania), Edward Lucas (CEPA Senior Vice President), LTG (Ret.) Ben Hodges. Mihai-Viorel Fifor (Minister of Defense of Romania), Jan Havránek (Policy Advisor in the Policy Planning Unit of the Office of the Secretary General at NATO), Róbert Odrejcsák (Deputy Minister of Defense of Slovakia), István Szabó (State Secretary of Defense of Hungary), Timothy Garton Ash (Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford), Janusz Bugajski (CEPA Senior Fellow), Kurt Volker (Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations of the United States), Audun Halvorsen (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway), Jānis Kažocins (National Security Advisor of Latvia), Tomáš Petříček (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic), Indrek Sirp (Director of the National Security and Defense Coordination of the Government Office of Estonia), Brian Whitmore (Senior Fellow and Director of the Russia Program at CEPA), Piotr Naimski (Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland), Sandra Oudkirk (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources of the United States), Dominik Tolksdorf (Director of Foreign & Security Policy at Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America), Žygimantas Vaičiūnas (Minister of Energy of Lithuania), Ambassador Dr. Réka Szemerkényi (Executive Vice President of CEPA).
