国际英语资讯:Spotlight: NATO chief stresses NATO-EU cooperation in discussions with MEPs_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: NATO chief stresses NATO-EU cooperation in discussions with MEPs

On terror, he said, "This is, of course, still a real threat as we have seen with several attacks in our capitals here in Europe. We have to fight back in many different ways and this will need a combination of political, military and economic measures."

Highlighting the progress made by the alliance on defense spending in the last two years, Stoltenberg called on NATO allies to keep up momentum.

While defense spending in western Europe returned to mild growth in 2016 following a six-year retreat, eastern Europe is currently one of the fastest growing regions in the world. defense expenditures in all countries in this sub-region are expected to be higher in 2021 than in 2016.

Stoltenberg, in his speech to parliamentarians, said that burden sharing was not just about spending but also about defense capabilities,adding, "We need more and modern capabilities in order to prevent conflicts and all of this will also be addressed at the NATO meeting."

He welcomed "stronger" European defense but underlined that what the EU does is "complimentary" to NATO and "does not compete with NATO".

"This should not be about creating new command structures that duplicate NATO or about establishing a European Army," he added.

Despite the security organization being branded as "obsolete" by Trump in January (Trump has since retracted this, saying the alliance is not obsolete), Stoltenberg voiced optimism in the long term viability of NATO.