{"id":14362,"date":"2019-07-22T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/22\/eus-diplomatic-deputy-on-coordination-among-member-states-working-with-the-us\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:27:39","slug":"eus-diplomatic-deputy-on-coordination-among-member-states-working-with-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/interviews\/2019\/07\/22\/eus-diplomatic-deputy-on-coordination-among-member-states-working-with-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"EU\u2019s diplomatic deputy on coordination among member states, working with the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The last couple of years have seen a clear effort by the European Union to bolster regional defense and to encourage member states to function based on a playbook that encourages investment and common strategy. It\u2019s similar to NATO\u2019s own efforts in collective defense, which has inspired some tension between the two organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense News spoke to Pedro Serrano, the deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service<\/a>, the EU\u2019s diplomatic arm, during a June visit to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have pointed to foreign interference, including disinformation, as a threat to European defense. What is the European Union doing in response? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have strategic communication teams looking at information coming from specific areas, including Eastern Europe and Russia<\/a>, and then looking over at what kind of news is being published in our own media and trying to detect<\/a> disinformation and fake news, and also to counter those by also issuing and correcting things that need to be corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also have created a rapid alert system with contact points in all member states, where member states inform others of any sort of disinformation or fake news that they are aware of or victim of, to raise the level of awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also part of a broader approach to hybrid. We have also created a hybrid fusion center, which collects information from the intelligence sources but also open sources and any kind of additional information that can come through other EU channels, including diplomatic channels, where we try to detect any kind of actions of a hybrid nature, including disinformation that may be geared at the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve put together quite a collection of means to be more aware and more resilient in terms of disinformation, and collectively engaging all our 28 member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is a matter of countering the information to the public, ensuring accurate information is circulated.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. We\u2019re also engaging with major internet providers and making them aware, and making them work with us, actually, to identify disinformation activities and to help promote a more critical approach to whatever content lies on the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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European leaders pose during the launch of the Permanent Structured Cooperation, (PESCO), a pact between 25 EU governments to fund, develop and deploy armed forces together, at the European Council on December 14, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium.(Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\t