Media advisory: Schuman Security and Defence Forum, 20-21 March

The EU is organising the first edition of Schuman Security and Defence Forum (Schuman Forum) on 20-21 March, under the authority of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell.

In line with the political priorities established in the Strategic Compass adopted in March 2022, the Schuman Forum will bring together the EU´s closest partners in the field of security and defence to exchange on common security challenges and common responses. The Schuman Forum is part of the EU’s broader engagement to establish a more coherent and comprehensive network of relationships with international and regional actors and with bilateral partners around the world. The Schuman Forum will take place every two years.

The first edition of the Schuman Forum will bring together primarily Ministers of Defence from the 27 EU Member States and from 45 partner countries, as well as international and regional organisations with which the EU cooperates on security and defence matters, such as the UN, NATO, OSCE, African Union, ASEAN, Gulf Cooperation Council and the League of Arab States; non-governmental participants such as think tanks/academia will also be invited to attend the second day of the Forum.

The Schuman Forum will start with a closed-door ministerial dinner on 20 March.

On 21 March, the Schuman Forum will continue at the European Parliament premises with a series of keynote speeches, high-level panels, roundtables, and plenary sessions. They will provide an opportunity for politicians and senior decision-makers to express their vision for partnerships in security and defence, and more generally on the challenges to be addressed in these fields.

A press conference by the EU High Representative/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell will take place at 13:00 at the European Parliament and will be live on Europe by Satellite (EbS).

Please see check the indicative programme on the Forum’s website.

Accreditation

Journalists, photographers, and audiovisual teams who are not holders of joint EU-institutional media accreditation, need to apply for European Parliament media accreditation (and a recording permit when applicable) to work in the European Parliament. Please apply for media accreditation before 16 March here.

Photo/TV opportunities

A pool to cover the arrivals, roundtables at the beginning of the plenaries and breakout sessions will be organised. Interested media should send a request to schuman.forum@bseurope.com before Friday 17 March at noon.

A selection of photographs taken by official photographers will be made available here.

The high-resolution photographs can be downloaded and used free of charge for non-commercial use (provided the copyright “European Union” is mentioned).

Host broadcaster

The European Parliament service will be the host broadcaster of the Forum on 21 March.

All host broadcaster footage can be downloaded in broadcast quality from EbS (arrivals, doorsteps, roundtables, and press conference).

Public parts of the conference can be watched via the Forum’s website.

EbS will also broadcast part of the conference proceedings on 21 March. For more information, check the EbS schedule.

More information

Check the website of the Forum for updates.