Today, Tuesday, Defense Minister Mario Kunasek received his Croatian counterpart Damir Krstičević in Vienna for a working meeting. One of the topics of the meeting was military cooperation between Austria and Croatia – particularly in the area of training.
Minister Kunasek emphasized the need to raise military cooperation with Croatia to a new level, particularly in view of the increasing migration pressure on the Western Balkan route. The opening of the office of an Austrian defense attaché in Zagreb should be seen in this context. With regard to the KFOR mission in Kosovo and EUFOR/ALTHEA in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kunasek made it clear that the international military presence was still necessary. Austria had therefore only recently increased its contribution to the Bosnia mission by 150 men. In the medium term, it was clear that it would be necessary to gradually adapt the troop presence to the situation in light of the EU Western Balkans strategy. “I am convinced that the sustainable development of the military capacities of the Western Balkan partners is of particular importance. Increasing the operational capability of the national armed forces in the Western Balkans will make it possible to increase resilience and thus improve Europe’s security,” said Defense Minister Kunasek.
Once again, Minister Kunasek emphasized the need to integrate the Western Balkan states into existing processes of the European security architecture. The ministers discussed the possible participation of the Western Balkan states in the joint border protection exercise of the Central European Defense Cooperation (CEDC) in Hungary in 2019. “Austria has always emphasized at EU level that it is important not to talk about each other, but to talk to each other. Not least in view of the increasing migration pressure, it is very important that we meet our partners at eye level. Compared to the previous year, the number of migrants on the Western Balkans route has risen by almost 50 percent,” Kunasek continued. The ministers also discussed the PESCO project on NBC defense, which Austria and Croatia have developed together with the other CEDC states. In addition to the CEDC partners, France and Italy are also particularly interested in participating in this security project. “The interest shown by some ‘large’ EU states underlines the importance of this project and shows that we have jointly developed an attractive project that will make an essential contribution to protecting Europe,” said the Austrian Defense Minister.
