Portolano to NATO: 'Preserve the right balance between military readiness and political control'

It is necessary for the countries of NATO to strike a balance between the need to deploy a military response quickly in the event of a security threat and the vigilance that is the responsibility of politics. The Chief of Defence Staff, Luciano Portolano, spoke at the meeting of the NATO Military Committee (Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session) that took place on 21 and 22 January in Brussels. On that occasion, reads a Defence Ministry note, the general "emphasised the need to preserve the right balance between the readiness of NATO's military response and the control of political authority. To ensure adequate sustainability of NATO's defence and deterrence plans,' Portolano stressed, 'an alignment of the industrial rump up plans (strategies for the gradual and controlled increase of production capacity, ed.) of each member state is necessary, also with a view to reducing dependence on other countries outside the Alliance'.

Not only that. While Defence once again confirms the priority of supporting a Ukraine committed to repelling Russian attacks, it also emphasises other areas to which attention should be paid. Italy, assured the Chief of Defence Staff, will continue to provide its support to Ukraine both bilaterally and multilaterally. At the same time, the Defence note further underlines, Portolano 'shared the importance Italy attaches to the Arctic and the need to prevent interference by potential hostile actors, provided that the related activities are conducted within the Atlantic Alliance. Furthermore, the general recalled the need to pay the necessary attention also to the sensitive areas of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Alliance's Southern Flank, where today's challenges, apparently in the background, risk catching us unprepared in the near future'.

The second day of work in Brussels was also attended by the Indo-Pacific (IP4) partner countries: Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea. "The Indo-Pacific quadrant," the Defence note highlighted, "is increasingly interconnected with the dynamics of the Euro-Atlantic area. In this context, military and industrial cooperation between the IP4 partners and NATO is a key element in consolidating the Alliance's multilateral approach to security issues. In this perspective, NATO promotes cooperation with a wide range of international actors and organisations'. In this regard, Portolano 'supported the need to update NATO's strategy on partnership in order to improve the operational capabilities of partner countries and strengthen the integration process with the Atlantic Alliance'.