Jean Asselborn at NATO Meeting: Defence of Rules-Based International Order Remains Absolute Priority

Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, took part in the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Brussels (Belgium) on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 April 2022.

Ahead of the ministerial meeting, Luxembourg, which currently holds the presidency of the Benelux Union, brought together the foreign ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands as well as their counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for a working meeting within the framework of cooperation between Benelux and the Baltic countries. This meeting allowed for an exchange of views on the common challenges facing the countries of these two regional groups, including the war in Ukraine.

The working dinner on 6 April then allowed ministers to consider NATO's next Strategic Concept. This document, which will be adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid in June 2022, will aim to provide the Alliance's main strategic guidelines for the next decade. In this regard, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister first noted that the security environment has continued to deteriorate since the drafting of the 2010 Strategic Concept. It will therefore be necessary to prepare for future adaptations, knowing that the current security environment is unpredictable, volatile and uncertain. Minister Asselborn notably highlighted the importance of cooperation between NATO and the European Union (EU).

The first working session the following day saw the NATO Foreign Ministers interact with nine Alliance partners, namely Australia, Finland, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Sweden and Ukraine. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, also participated in this discussion dedicated to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and its consequences for the international community.

This session notably enabled the ministers to highlight the importance of NATO's partnerships, to discuss the need for a rules-based international order and to express their solidarity with Ukraine, whose Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was also present.

Minister Asselborn welcomed the presence and active participation of NATO's partners: "It is a strong signal of unity. We are a close-knit community that shares the same values".

After strongly condemning the atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister highlighted the face that the defence of the rules-based international order remains, more than ever, an absolute priority. "The UN Charter, international law and international humanitarian law are the foundations of the system. It is undeniable that Russia under [Vladimir] Putin no longer attaches any importance to it. We reject a world governed by the principle of the law of the strongest", he stated.

A second working session provided an opportunity for the 30 Allies to have an in-depth discussion on Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and its consequences for the Alliance.