On Saturday, May 5, the head of the Ministry of National Defense participated in the sessions of the European Union countries defense ministers, chaired by the EU High Representative Federika Mogherini.

- It was a very interesting and fruitful meeting. We talked about PESCO, or programs financed by the EU, which allow the development of defense capabilities of individual countries - said the head of the Defense Ministry.

- We also approached the military mobility program with great attention. In this context, I presented the initiative which received support during the B9 Group meeting in Bucharest - an initiative regarding the construction of Via Carpatia connected to Via Baltica, routes that would allow the movement of troops from the north - from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary , Romania, Bulgaria to Greece. Such a motorway also gives a chance for the economic development of our region - said Minister Blaszczak.

On the margins of the session, bilateral talks of Minister Błaszczak took place, among others with Florence Parly, Minister for the Armed Forces of France, Ursula von der  Leyen, Minister of Defense of Germany, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Deputy Secretary General for Peace-Keeping, Jüri Luik, Minister of Defense of Estonia and Krasimir Karakachanov, Defense Minister of Bulgaria.

For the next week, telephone calls are scheduled to be made with the Defense Ministries of Germany and France. As the head of the Defense Ministry noted, one of the topics discussed with the German Defense Minister will be issues related to the reform of command structures within NATO.

- We want to be active. We have joint proposals and together we maintain the command of the corps in Szczecin. As part of the changes, reforms of the command system of the European part of NATO, as Poles, we have our own proposals - added the head of the Defense Ministry.

Minister Błaszczak also informed that one of the topics of talks with K. Karakachanov, defense minister of Bulgaria, today's host of the meeting, were issues related to the modernization of the Bulgarian armed forces, where opportunities for Polish industry are opening up.

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PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) - permanent structural cooperation in the field of common security and defense policy. It enables EU member states to cooperate more closely in the field of security and defense, joint development of defense potential, investing in the same projects or increasing the participation and operational readiness of the armed forces.