EU's new military pact poses no threat to NATO: Mogherini

The European Union has dismissed a call by the United States "to include in written EU documents" that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) role in protecting Europe would not be threatened by the EU's newly-established massive military pact.

"This is already clearly stated in black and white in the EU treaties, so no need further to speculate on that," the union's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini told reporters on Friday in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

The EU launched a massive military pact on December 11 as it seeks to coordinate policies and projects among member states in the face of alleged threats from the east of the continent.

PressTV-EU launches major military pact on joint projects

The EU launches a massive military pact which includes modern and sophisticated projects.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, unveiled the Permanent Structured Cooperation, known as PESCO, which was signed by 25 participating EU member states.

The commission said the states are also set to endorse the European Defense Fund (EDF), a project with an annual budget of 1.5 billion euro.

The PESCO was signed at the European Council in Brussels on November 13 and is part of efforts led by Germany and France to bring the EU closer to having a permanent joint military force parallel to NATO but exclusive to the EU.

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Mogherini, who is in Sofia to participate in a meeting of EU foreign ministers, emphasized that the new pact does not seek to replace or compete with NATO.

"NATO is mentioned in the EU treaty as the responsible organization for collective defense for those EU member states that are NATO allies, so it's clear the work we're doing on European defense in the EU is not aiming at substituting for NATO when it comes to collective defense," Mogherini pointed out.

The US is concerned that EU plans for closer military ties between the bloc’s members risk undermining NATO as the alliance confronts Russia.

US ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison on Tuesday ramped up the pressure, warning the EU that there could be serious consequences if it shuts US arms companies out of cooperation projects.

PressTV-US fears closer EU military ties could undermine NATO

NATO members will discuss strains in US-Turkey relations and Washington’s concerns over EU plans for closer defense ties between the bloc’s members.

"Certainly we do not want this to be a protectionist vehicle for the EU and we're going to watch carefully, because if that becomes the case then it could splinter the strong security alliance that we have," she told reporters.

The top EU diplomat pointed to a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday among NATO defense ministers including US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and said the talks had allowed her to reassure that the EU military pact has no intention of replacing the alliance.

Unlike similar efforts in the past, PESCO is not being opposed by the US-led NATO, which aims to benefit from stronger militaries.

Some members have also brandished the new union as an attempt to counter Russia. Western governments have been at odds with Moscow since the Crimean Peninsula, formerly territory of Ukraine, voted to unify with Russia in 2014.

Moscow has already been unnerved by NATO’s increased military activities on Russia’s western borders. Moscow says the military alliance seeks to establish permanent presence near Russia by gradually building up forces there.

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