EI2

EUROPEAN
INTERVENTION
INITIATIVE
 Making European defence stronger
10 COUNTRIES
REPRESENTING:

FOR A YEAR
W hy ?
core of countries sharing the political will
and military capabilities to meet their opera-
tional responsibilities, EI2 strengthens the
Europe is now living in an era of major “Europe that protects”.
upheaval, with a rapid and lasting deterio-
ration of the strategic environment, and
new forms of warfare and conflict. This new
era calls for a renewed European ambition
How ? OVER
Concretely, EI2 members will implement

160
in the field of defence and a new approach pragmatic and operational cooperation
to defence cooperation. on strategic foresight, scenarii, lessons
learned and support to operations.

What?
With the shared determination to promo-
ting European strategic empowerment,
the ministers of defence of Belgium,
Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the
United Kingdom, soon joined by
Finland, have established the European
Intervention Initiative (EI2) on 25 June
2018.
By drawing our strategic cultures closer,
by cultivating pragmatic partnerships
among European States, and by reinfor-
cing solidarity and capabilities within a
T I M ELINE
WO R K I N G C YC L E I W O R K I N G C YCLE II
EI2 will deliver tangible results, for instance BILLION EUROS
developing our common ability to respond
swiftly and jointly to natural disasters,
INVESTED IN DEFENCE
conducting non-combat evacuation
operations and bolstering our ability to
carry out military, high-end operations
worldwide.
The first EI2 Defence Ministerial was held
on 7 November 2018. On this occasion,
Defence Ministers of EI2 participating States
agreed upon the political directives, which
will guide the operational work to be carried
out within the framework of the Military
European Strategic Talks (MEST).
OVER
300
MILLION PEOPLE

PHASE INITIATION PHASE CONSOLIDATION PHASE PERPETUATION

I 7 NOV.
2017-2018
II 2019
III 2020 & BEYOND

JUNE
25 JUNE 2018 Ministerial
Signature of the
letter of intent
meeting
(Paris) 9 NOV.
SPRING 2019
MEST
(EI2 Military
2019
Talks)
Defence
Ministerial meeting
MEST (EI2 Military Talks)
25 000
SOLDIERS DEPLOYED
MEST policy Defence policy meeting
(Luxembourg) ADHESION
(EI2 Military Talks) meeting AROUND THE WORLD
OF FINLAND

M
ilitary European
Strategic Talks
The Military European Strategic Talks (MEST)
are operational meetings held between
the Armed Forces. They will guide military
work to be carried out within EI2 and ensure
tangible results.
Through concrete analytical work and
initiatives, they nurture a common strate-
gic culture among EI2 Participating States,
and develop their operational abilities to
better act together.
MEST are about intelligence sharing and
joint horizon-scanning on potential or
current crisis areas. They deliver concrete
planning activities on areas or cross-cut-
ting issues among interested EI2 members.
They also focus on lessons learned and
support to operations, as well as on
contingency planning.
C ontributing to
NATO and the EU
EI2 is an independent initiative, which makes
it more flexible and reactive, and allows for an
invaluable cross-cutting approach. Concre-
tely, this means that EI2 develops outside of
NATO and the EU.
At the same time, EI2 is also fully compatible
with and will benefit to both organizations.
First, EI2, NATO and the EU are all working
to attain a common goal: ensuring that
Europe can respond effectively to any threat
or challenge to its peace, security and
stability, whenever and wherever it arises.
Second, EI2 will contribute to a stronger EU
and to a stronger NATO by creating a
common strategic and operational culture
among its members and enhancing their
ability to act militarily when and where
needed in various possible frameworks
(NATO, UE, UN, ad hoc coalition).
Third, EI2 is complementary to their efforts.
EI2 implements pragmatic operational
cooperation on blind spots that neither NATO
nor the EU fully covers. It will generate, and
already has, concrete projects for NATO and
for the EU, in particular within PESCO.