Mogherini urges cooperation on defense

(ANSA) - Brussels, September 27 - Plans to realise a common European defence "do not mean establishing a European army but having more cooperation for a more effective defence that is fully complementary to NATO", EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday.
    This includes using existing instruments such as the EU battle groups, or military units constituting a rapid reaction force, Mogherini continued. "Today we are starting to work on concrete ideas" so that "they can be approved at the European summit in December", the foreign policy chief said on arriving at an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Bratislava to discuss the plan. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg would also be present at the meeting to discuss the "enactment of the joint EU-NATO declaration signed in Warsaw in July", Mogherini said.
    "This symbolises the fact that we have been working together from the outset," she added.