MSC Hosts Panel Discussions at NATO Public Forum Alongside Summit in Madrid

On June 28 and 29, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) hosted several events at the 2022 NATO Public Forum alongside the NATO Summit in Madrid. The Public Forum was streamed live; recordings of all sessions can be re-watched here. On the opening day of the event, the MSC co-hosted the first NATO High-Level Dialogue on Climate and Security, an initiative of the NATO 2030 agenda dedicated to stepping up NATO's role in understanding and adapting to the impacts of climate change on security. The Dialogue was opened by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and moderated by Hadley Gamble, Anchor at CNBC. In his opening remarks, Stoltenberg announced that NATO had conducted its first ever assessment on the impact of climate change on NATO Allies' security, had developed a methodology for measuring NATO's greenhouse gas emissions, and had for the first time established its own emission reduction targets.

Later that day, the MSC hosted a panel on climate security with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand, Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ángeles Morena Bau, and Sherri Goodman, Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate and Security. Rainer Baake, Managing Director of the Climate Neutrality Foundation, set the scene by highlighting the link between fossil fuel dependency and the war in Ukraine: "I find it unbearable that we are currently financing two armies. We are funding NATO armies via our taxes and Putin's armies through our gas and oil payments." Baerbock pointed out the importance of addressing the climate crisis in order to promote security: "If we are not winning the fight against the climate crisis, we are losing security all around the world". In his closing remarks, MSC Chairman Christoph Heusgen thanked Secretary General Stoltenberg for putting climate security high on NATO's agenda. Pointing to the results of the MSC's latest Munich Security Index, Heusgen stressed that publics in the G7 countries still consider climate change one of the gravest threats to their security even after the invasion of Ukraine.

On day two of the Public Forum, Andriy Yermak, Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine, virtually joined a conversation with MSC Chairman Heusgen. He gave a sobering account of the war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine in the past months, including the recent bombing of a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, which killed at least 20 civilians.

This conversation was followed by a ministerial panel on stability and deterrence in and around Europe consisting of the Netherlands' Minister of Defense Kajsa Ollongren, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, and Estonia's Defense Minister Kalle Laanet. The panelists reflected upon what the agreement on Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO reached with Turkey on the night before means for the security of the Alliance, particularly in the Baltic Sea region.

Later in the day, the MSC also hosted a panel on hybrid threats, featuring Senior Reporter at Politico Lili Bayer as moderator, Director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council Anna Wieslander, Special Representative of the NATO Secretary General for Women, Peace and Security Irene Fellin, and, Director General of NATO's International Military Staff Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wiermann. The panelists discussed a wide range of hybrid threats: Wiermann stressed the importance of attributing cyber-attacks for cyber defense, while Fellin examined the arguments for and against conceptualizing conflict-related sexual violence as a hybrid threat.

This discussion was followed by a conversation between Lili Bayer and Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and his brother Vladimir Klitschko. Speaking on Ukraine's current needs, Vitali Klitschko stressed: "We need support — political, economic, humanitarian — and what is also very important: We need defensive weapons, because we defend our country, we defend our cities, we defend our families, and also — I hope everyone understands this — we are defending our common values, and we are defending you." Both brothers also thanked Ukraine's partners for their support for Ukraine's defense. Their remarks were met with a standing ovation from the audience and concluded the MSC's events at the NATO Public Forum.