NATO-EU collaboration in practice: NATO STO CMRE
NATO and the European Union (EU) share strategic interests and face same challenges. They cooperate on issues of common interest and are working side by side in crisis management, capability development and political consultations, as well as providing support to their common partners in the east and south. In 2016, the EU and NATO adopted a Joint Declaration that laid the ground for a new type of relationship. In 2018, a new signed Joint Declaration recognizes the importance of the cooperation and states that NATO and the EU are strengthening cooperation in a range of areas. How do the two organisations collaborate in practice will be provided through NATO STO CMRE perspective. The Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) is an executive body of NATO’s Science and Technology Organization (STO). Located in La Spezia (Italy), the CMRE is built on more than 60 years of experience in its former establishments as the NURC and SACLANTCEN, and has produced a cadre of leaders in ocean science, modelling and simulation, acoustics and other disciplines, as well as producing critical results and understanding that have been built into the operational concepts of NATO and the Nations. CMRE operates two research vessels that enable science and technology solutions to be explored and developed at sea. At the moment of this presentation, CMRE is developing 11 research and development projects funded by the EU, and numerous projects for EU Nations government bodies, industry, and academia. Presentation of these projects will provide examples of the NATO-EU collaboration.