10 European countries are joining forces to better protect their critical infrastructure at sea. This became clear during the ministerial meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). The meeting took place today at the Marine Etablissement Amsterdam.
Minister Kajsa Ollongren: “Our vital undersea infrastructure is increasingly becoming a target. We have seen many examples of this in recent months. Think of the Nord Stream sabotage. Or to the Russian ships that have mapped windmills in the North Sea. At national and international level, we must step up our efforts together with industry and other armed forces. In order to better protect our cables, pipelines and wind farms. It is very important that we have made this agreement with the Northern European countries.”
Ministers also discussed the war in Ukraine. They announced that Ukraine will receive an air defense package worth 92 million euros. This package will be delivered and paid for by the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) in the coming months. The Netherlands is contributing € 100 million to the fund set up by Great Britain last year.
In addition, a scenario was used to practice how the JEF countries should deal with possible incidents and threats. The scenario was built from a peacetime incident to a crisis with a role for NATO.