On April 18, 2016, ICDS Senior Researcher Ambassador (ret.) Pauli Järvenpää gave a prepared intervention at a high level seminar in Stockholm, Sweden, titled “NATO’s Enhanced Partners Toward the Warsaw Summit 2016“. The Seminar was arranged jointly by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the United States Mission to NATO, and the Swedish Atlantic Council.
NATO’s Enhanced Opportunities Partners (Australia, Finland, Georgia, Jordan, and Sweden) face an increasingly complex and volatile security landscape. This creates an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with NATO, but as the Partners (EOP) move to construct a stronger base for cooperation they will need to consider distinct but reinforcing challenges.
What can the Partners expect from the NATO Summit? What do these countries wish to achieve? Are NATO’s interests aligned with the priorities of the EOP countries? Are there uncharted oportunities and ideas to strengthen the Enhanced Opportunities Partner program? Is the current EOP program still good enough to advance shared interests? Is there a common agenda for the EOP and NATO after Warsaw?