Good evening everyone. My name is Bill Burns and I'm the president of the Carnegie Endowment for international peace And I am very pleased and very honored to welcome high representative Federica Mogherini back to the Carnegie Endowment Just a few weeks ago high representative Mogherini released the European Union's new global strategy an admirable and ambitious effort to think through how Europe can best navigate a fast-changing International landscape that whiter landscape seems more crowded and more complicated than ever And the reality is that almost everywhere you look on the geopolitical compass Our European allies are hard-pressed the deeply unsettling reality of Brexit from the West terrorism a massive migration crisis and now new Uncertainties in Turkey from the south and a resurgent Russia from the news These pressures pose some very difficult questions about the future of Europe and its role in the world Our Carnegie Europe Center in Brussels has worked hard to try to help answer them and today High representative Mogherini will lay out how she believes that you should respond I representative Mogherini has taken on this challenge with her characteristic skill energy and imagination Traits that proved in indispensable now to her rapid rise in European politics and traits that proved equally Indispensable to bringing the comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran across the finish line almost exactly one year ago We could not ask for a more timely or important conversation and we couldn't be more fortunate to have that conversation with high representative Mogherini so with that Uncharacteristically short intervention from a recovering diplomat I hope you'll join me in welcoming high representative Federica Mogherini. Thank you Well, first of all, thank you. Thank you very much for this opportunity To address such a high-level audience As you know, I was particularly eager to introduce our new global strategy here in Washington and here in Carnegie and particular Carnegie has been involved very very closely in the preparation of this strategy You have hosted a number of events and contributed actively to our experts consultation As you know very well, the drafting of this strategy has been a very open process Of course, our European institutions and our member states have played a crucial role But the whole process was not simply at government level and it never happened behind closed doors This is a strategy for all our European citizens and it is a strategy that speaks to our partners in the world You had to be involved and you will have to be involved in the next stages of this process So I'm particularly grateful for your comments and I look forward to our discussion tonight But I also wanted to discuss this strategy here in the United States because our transatlantic bond is an essential element not only of this document, but of our policies and our daily work Our friendship with the United States will be crucial to turning our vision into action both in Europe and here in America and especially when you look at regional and global governments In fact, the key principles of the strategy match perfectly The work we have been doing together with US administration over the past few years I can speak only for the last year and a half almost two years in office But just two days ago John Kerry was in Brussels We were commenting together what was happening in Turkey and I'm sure we will have the occasion to discuss this in the Q&A Sessions or we will not stop on that particular issue at the moment, but With his presence in Brussels on Monday We had the Foreign Affairs Council meeting ongoing He became the first ever Secretary of State of the United States to join our EU Foreign Affairs Council This tells you something When you look at the global strategy and read about partnership, this is exactly what it means that we need each other I know this Should be given for granted, but maybe it is not in these days None of us, neither our European Union nor the United States Could deal with our common challenges alone and it's a long list of common challenges, unfortunately No superpower Could solve the crisis in Syria or in Libya alone None of us alone could bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians Or ensure that the nuclear deal with Iran that we concluded just exactly one year ago is strictly implemented None of us alone can counter Daesh and prevent radicalization Effectively and by the way, this is the reason why I'm in this seat today for a very important ministerial meeting of the global coalition to counter Daesh and the strength of this work is exactly in partnership and cooperation across the Atlantic and further beyond the Atlantic So we need each other. That's the main message that is also the core of the strategy We need each other Europe and the United States and we need all global and regional powers to play their role We need to invest in partnerships partnerships Means also that we need to invest in the strength of our partners. Sometimes we believe that having a weak In co-interlocutor a weak partner on the other side of the sea in some cases of the Mediterranean in the European case would have been easier for Europe I think we've learned the lesson and we know today that the strength of our neighbors is our own strength But we also need to invest in new formats for regional and global cooperation and engagement To think of the international support group for Syria It was only last year Just a few months after the Iran deal that we managed to gather all the relevant powers around the same table The United States, Russia, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Iran and we all know how difficult this process is But there is simply no other way to bring peace in Syria rather than working together Even if it is very difficult actually Through the difficulties we face around that table. We understand better the difficulties we face on the ground and Such possibility for peace would not exist without our deal with Iran and without the close cooperation between Europe and America which made it possible John Kerry and I sitting together in quite an impressive number of different formats Together we decided to revitalize the Middle East Quartet and the report we have come up with just a few weeks ago Cannot be underestimated The ones we can come back to this in the Q&A's But for the first time ever the US, the EU, Russia and the United Nations have agreed on a clear analysis of the situation on the ground and Also, more importantly, on recommendations on the way forward to turn the two-state solution into a reality And together we have also agreed to engage more regularly with the key Arab states Saudi Arabia The initiator of the Arab Peace Initiative, Egypt for obvious reasons and Jordan for its role on the oil phases So diplomacy these days And these are only few examples diplomacy in these days require a good dose of determination Consistency and also creativity. You were mentioning that maybe being Italian here drinks a bit of an added value But Europe can be a driving force when it comes to that To a certain extent resilience, but also creativity as you all know, we are 28 we have complicated institutions and Our complexity makes it may be easier for us to understand others complexity and deal with that and Already negotiating among us at 28 is a good training for negotiating with the others around the world so in all these formats the US and Europe are The backbone essential partners and beyond that. We have seen how crucial our cooperation is on the global scene See Together last year. We have made the Paris Agreement on climate change possible Together always last year. We have steered the negotiations towards the sustainable development goals and I really look forward to the two summits on migration this coming September at the margins of the UN General Assembly Does never have so many people been on the move in the world we have perceived the Migratory and refugee crisis very much as a European crisis in the past year Actually, I think it is high time for us to move to a different kind of the concept and realize that people are on the move in the world and We need to face a global phenomenon in a global way with a global partnership and this is what we can do in September together, I think we have the tools the resources the strength to govern this phenomenon in a spirit of partnership and I am glad the President Obama shares the same vision for globally shared responsibilities a global framework for cooperation on migrations and A stronger international protection of refugees. This is the European way and I see this as the American way as well You know, I remember very well the nights President Obama was elected You know very well in Europe. We were all quite excited He got on stage in Chicago and talked about alliances to repair eight years on our alliance could not be in a better shape and I can only hope that next presidents of the United States will share his same commitments to our transatlantic cooperation and friendship our Partnership and global partnerships are the only way to face our common challenges, but also to seize the opportunities of our times Many have noted including here at Carnegie. That's the global strategy builds on a much more realistic assessment of our international environment and you were mentioning this just I can quote for you the first sentence of the European security strategy of 2003 that stated started like this. I thought Europe has never been so prosperous so secure nor so free and Of quotation So we see today that the world has changed dramatically and very quickly and indeed this global strategy Starts from a very different assessment of our reality because the world has changed our region has changed But also the European Union has changed There's more complexity But there are also more tools that we have in our toolbox in the European Union to face this reality But if you look at this last weeks even this last days this last month It's quite clear that we're living in challenging times. We've had in sequence the British referendum the attacks in Nice situation in Also here in America London tensions in American societies Terrorist attacks in different parts of the Middle East Africa Asia And what is happening in Turkey in these days? I'm sure we've come back to that in our conversation and You think of those events and you clearly get a picture of the challenges. We are all facing together Not only in Europe everywhere in the world But we couldn't simply focus on the threats and this is an essential part of our strategy Also, because otherwise it wouldn't be a strategy. It would be a list a long list of problems to face We also have to focus on what we can do to prevent Future crisis and to get the opportunities the world offers to us I've mentioned some of our recent common achievements from the deal with Iran the COP 21 and We believe the world still has a huge potential for economic growth and for human development We have a duty to make full use of such potential and this is our responsibility And we believe in Europe we have the power to do so obviously together with our global partners and Working as a true union as a European Union. That is really in this work We don't start from scratch quite the opposite Our union is already the biggest aid donor the first trade partner and the main foreign investor In most countries in the world. I know you don't easily realize that but that is the truth and We are increasingly active also as a global security provider from Colombia Where we are preparing already to support the implementation of the peace deal to Myanmar or the Philippines Where we are engaged directly in the national reconciliation processes. So too far away places where European Union is already and a very reliable and significant security provider But too often in Europe, we don't realize how strong we are and sometimes we need friends outside of Europe To remind us of our strength of how important it is and which kind of responsibility We have and the message that President Obama passed Couple of weeks ago in Warsaw couple of weeks before in an over was extremely powerful in Europe We need sometimes to have our friends reminding us what we have achieved in the last 70 years And what is at stake not only for the Europeans, but also for our partners in the world But today we have to make sure that we use as Europeans all the instruments We have in a coherent and synchronized way And this is a key part maybe the key part of the strategy and this will be vital also for its implementation the strategy sets a vision But also sets the instruments and the steps to turn the vision into action With some concrete very concrete measures to be taken Then we will need the political will and the consistency to do it But that's the second chapter of our work The threats we face have never been so complex Conflicts for the control of land or even for the control of resources have made an unexpected comeback In recent years, but at the same time and in the very same conflict sometime We need to cope also with new kinds of Worse for instance very clearly an information war some call it a propaganda war Today we know that military might can be necessary But it's never sufficient alone because of the complexity of the crisis we have in front of us everyone noted that resilience is The keyword in the strategy and one of our core ideas is that we won't manage to end or prevent Conflicts if societies and states are not resilient enough and I say societies and states Because the resilience of a state alone would never make the state's resilience for real You need societies to be open and resilient and that is what makes also institutions and long-run Residents so human development job creation institution building Climate action and the protection of human rights are for us integral part of our security work Let me go back for instance to the anti-daesh coalition ministerial we had just today as you know Just one example. I'll make two In this case the European Union is not directly engaged in the military action against Daesh And yet our contribution in Syria in Iraq is key Why because we are working to strengthen the country's institutions including the security sector and the inclusiveness of the Societies in particular in Iraq in Iraq for instance We are demining the areas liberated from Daesh to let the people of Iraq go back to their homes and their lives and All of this in today's reality is an integral part an integral component of our work for security as much as the military side of it Another good example is the work we're doing in Africa No one invests as much as we do on development corporation, especially in Africa But we've also finally realized because sometimes That development is possible only when a country's security is stable And this is something our African friends, you know, extremely well It is impossible for a society to thrive under the constant threat of a terrorist attack or Militias and criminal gangs Replacing the legitimate authorities. So just a couple of weeks ago I presented a new proposal to use the European Union funds to empower our partners to tackle their own security strengthen governance and stability and this is a way of engaging even more effectively in development corporation So capacity building and security sector reforms are indispensable steps for us on the path towards sustainable development And this is the kind of approach the strategy takes This is the European way to engagement in the world an effective Hopefully effective smart mix of soft and hard power The old idea that Europeans are from Venus doesn't really reflect the change in reality Actually, it's quite outdated. Our Union is already more much more than a purely civilian power The future of our security is one where hard and soft power are much more blended than in the past And this is why the strategy calls for Europe to seek the full spectrum of defense capabilities And the only way to do so is through stronger cooperation inside our Union We need to spend enough on defense. We've said it several times, but we also need to spend better on defense We the truly European defense industry and we need to meet our collective commitment to invest 35% of our total equipment spending in collaborative procurement. This is a way of spending better We need to strengthen the capability development plan. We need to improve cooperation among member states through the European defense agency The security and defense cooperation in our Union has to become the norm and not the exception This is one of the core elements of our work on security and defense We still have not explored the full potential of our treaties in this regard. The treaties give us instruments and tools to do so We need the political consistent will and determination to use all the instruments we have Excuse me Don't say that Europe is losing its voice for instance This is the problem you cannot afford having a look. For instance, the strategy calls for addressing The obstacles which have so far prevented the deployments of the battle groups an instrument We have an instrument that could be needed an instrument that we might be able to use in the coming future This is what strategic autonomy means and this is what our Union must aim at and I would like to be Completely clear on this. There is no contradiction at all between the strategic autonomy of a stronger European Union and A stronger partnership between EU and NATO For this very reason less than two weeks after the presentation of our strategy at the NATO summit in Warsaw We have signed a joint declaration between the EU and NATO to move our partnership to the next level How our cooperation is getting closer and is getting wider Covering new fields from maritime security to hybrid threats from cyber security The fight against humans smugglers at sea And we are already working together and complimenting each other in many parts of the world from Afghanistan to the Aegean Sea And with the joint declaration we just signed and we're going to implement in the coming months We have committed to an even greater cooperation more Complementarity more coordination on exercises a more integrated defense industry Let me go even farther than that. Not only there is no contradiction In today's world a strong NATO requires strong security cooperation inside the European Union Because the only way we the Europeans can take responsibility for our collective security is through cooperation inside our own European Union and the stronger European Union means a stronger NATO and Let me remind us all Especially in these hours strong NATO is key to America's security We are bound to be together and that is the history of the last 70 years across the Atlantic And that is also the future we want for our children peace security and prosperity both in Europe and in America and We are bound to be together So we must combine together our heart and soft power You must connect our work on security and on development. You must couple conflict prevention and peacemaking We must join our humanitarian aid and our investments for jobs and growth our public policies and the action of private investors and city society This is what the strategy is about and this will be essential to its implementation as well Three days ago in the EU Foreign Affairs Council the one where John Kerry was becoming first Secretary of State being part of it coming as a guest We have begun to work on the next steps on the implementation of the strategy We would set a clear time table for the strategies implementation and in one year time We will produce a first annual report on this The work to revise all existing sectorial Strategies and to produce new ones were needed. We start already in the coming weeks and months And we will need the whole foreign policy community To be part of this work as you have been part of the work leading to the strategy Your ideas have helped us through the drafting of the strategy in the thinking and the policymaking and They will just be as important as they have been also in the next phase Because there is no time to lose, you know, we were discussing this just before entering the room Some actually many told me that after the UK referendum It would have been wiser to wait and postpone the presentation of the global strategy But I thought that in difficult times in a difficult moment for our union and for the UK But this is a different story Our duty is to focus on what is important on what will make our citizens safer Our region more stable and the world a better place Because we have a responsibility as Europeans and we are responsible people So I know some are tempted to demolish instead of building on what we have already achieved But the secret of change is to focus all our energies not on fighting the old but on building the new So in times of turmoil and confusion, we will need for sure an extra dose two extra doses of tenacity rationality It's not the most popular thing in these days and courage But the history of Europe has shown very well that one of the things we do better Maybe the thing we do better apart from food Is overcoming difficulties It's overcoming difficulties The European Union was born on the ashes of World War II We turned a continent that has been at war for centuries if not for thousands of years In the most successful project of regional integration in the entire world And more recently we have just come out of the worst economic crisis in our times, but we are strong We still have for sure a lot to do a lot to improve a lot to change But my message here today as it was the case in China last week and in Europe every single day is this Europe is strong and Europe will grow even stronger together with its partners together with America Thank you so much again for coming back to Carnegie this evening Thanks for a very thoughtful presentation and thanks especially for a powerful reminder of The significance of the european project and especially the significance of transatlantic partnership as well I know your time is limited. So what I thought I'd do is start with just two or three brief questions Then open it up to our audience The first is a quite straightforward you mentioned that you had just finished an important ministerial Meeting with John Kerry and the other members of the counter-icellar kind of dash coalition And I wanted to ask what do you think is possible as you look at syria and iraq You know over the course of the coming year How concerned are you that recent developments in turkey might undermine the effectiveness Or the kind of role the turkey can play As you look at russia's world Do you think we're getting closer to the plane of effective cooperation with russia or are the skeptics right And it's going to prove impossible to persuade russia to work toward a real political transition in syria So I know those are a lot of questions, but I thought I'd start with that You know, I think I think Difficult to say if one can be Optimistic or pessimistic, this is not the way I tend to approach crisis You cannot afford being either optimistic or pessimistic You just need to deal with what you have And try to make the most out of what you have what we have in syria is complicated And difficult by definition I think the approach we took since last autumn Finally Is the right one? Mitch means working on three parallel tracks Where different actors have different roles and weights And different actors and different tracks come together into a coordinated approach It's a complex mechanism, but We have three elements here. We have the military component where it is key that us and russia Work as much as possible closely together, including military to military coordination because they are the Key actors on the ground that can have an impact on the cessation of hostilities Then you have the humanitarian component where the european union is more a key actor We are the first donor there. We are the only donor that is currently present with an office in damascos And we are the ones working hand in hand with the u.m To deliver humanitarian aid But to deliver humanitarian aid you have to have access and to have access you have to have cessation of hostilities holding But on the other side once you have the cessation of hostilities as it was the case in in february march for for a while If you do not have humanitarian improvements immediately you risk Undermining the old process and many of the third process that is the most important one The political one and here again. It's mainly Obviously for the p5 Obviously for the us but also for the european union as such To facilitate the different syrian parties coming together. I see a space there I so I cannot tell you because the european union is not a military actor in syria It's chosen not to be rightly so I think So I it is not for me to say if it is likely or not That the cessation of hostilities or the military to military coordination between the us and russia will work But what I tell you is that I see a space For humanitarian aid to effectively reach syrians in all parts of syria if the cessation of hostilities takes place and also and Most of all I see a space for the political transition I see the determination of the syrian opposition groups to come together and Work on a transition in the immediate terms, but also A perspective for the end game of what syria would look like at the end of the process I'm personally convinced that a syria that would go towards a parliamentary system but not only Go back to the original institutional system that syria was Knowing before the Assad Experience But also would make the role of the president less relevant and somehow facilitate our work But I also think that the regional actors understand now that there is no military solution to this crisis And the only way is to find A transition that guarantees that all parts of the syrian society Find their access to power sharing And their participation in the life of the country If we are all consistent and we stay focused and if the military component works Which again is in is not in our hands. It's more in the american lands. I think that we have a space I know that this might sound Too optimistic in a moment where We see terrible news coming from the ground but if we were to listen to the More negative approaches where we were working on the Iran deal would have stopped years ago So i'm convinced that you have to keep the objective clear and try to find the entry points whenever you Manage to build an Want me to say something about turkey immediately? I'm just gonna ask both both with regard to syria and the anti-dash coalition and just more broadly On uh, well more broadly our You know, the european union was the first one in that tragic night between friday and saturday to speak clearly On the need to protect the democratic institutions of the country Because we know very well That turkey and the entire region and europe and america and the west of the world Could simply not afford turning back to last century No change in a country can happen through military cool That is a basic thing And in those hours, it was very interesting for me to see that all political forces Of the country Were clearly standing behind the democratic institutions. It was not something to be given for black This gives us a certain credibility now to say that there is no excuse for the legitimate institutions to react In a way that is not taking into consideration rule of law fundamental freedoms and human rights And the right to a fair trial of all those involved We have been very clear That any attempt to reintroduce that penalty. I know this is not necessarily the most popular argument in the united states But the united states is not looking for a membership to the european union yet Reintroduce into that penalty would make it impossible for turkey to join the union. This is a basic part of what we call the akiki monotap And By the way is a fundamental part of the Human rights convention of the council of europe of which turkey is part So we are making it very clear to our turkish friends Uh, we are fully behind the institutions the democratic institutions the legitimate institutions but There is no excuse. There is no way in which the reaction can undermine The fundamental freedoms and rights and what we are seeing Especially in the field of universities media Judiciary is unacceptable I've been clear enough. That's clear. No, that's clear now. Thank you very much Um, just one other question for me before I open it up to our audience and it's on another obvious challenge in the last few weeks In brexit and in the weeks and months and years to come So when you began to do the global strategy brexit was a looming possibility now. It's a looming reality I'm as you try to look at it's a looming possibility Yeah, well, that's I'd like you to explain to me how it's it remains a little bit. It's not reality yet But how do you see that affecting? I know a lot depends on You know how that plays itself out, but how do you see this as affecting the strategy that you've laid out? How significant do you think the adjustments might have to be depending on the scenario that plays out? We were all uh, hoping for a different result of the risk and My impression is that also some of those that's campaigned for the brexit Might maybe have been more comfortable with especially those who are googling e you on the next day. Yeah Anyway, we have to respect people's Well, this is part of democracy So now it's up to london to define how to turn The results of the referendum into an institutional decision Why i'm saying it's a possibility. It's not because I think that There are possibilities or chances to turn back the decision Simply we're talking about something that will happen the brexit at the end of negotiations That not only have not started yet, but have not even been requested yet so at the moment Politically everything has changed but institutionally and formally The the uk is a full member of the european union and will stay a full member of the european union for quite some time Because negotiations will take time and again. They've not even started. They've not even been requested so far So in this moment, the uk is a full member of the european union would continue to be like this for a certain number of years and This means that until that moment the end of negotiations The uk will continue to be a full part of our foreign security policy with Its presence in our operations and missions We have 17 of those among the words uk is playing a significant role in those and is not giving no signs of Wanting to withdraw from from that, you know our trade agreements, you know our diplomatic efforts in our work in the u.m in the security council in aid and And Boris Johnson was sitting with us for 16 hours Monday in the european foreign affairs council What will change afterwards? It will depend and depend very much on negotiations we will have on what kind of future relationship the uk and the european union 27 will have and this will be the result of internal thinking that has not Really started yet And a negotiation That is impossible to predict. I personally think that both the uk and the european union have all the interests Also in the future to continue to work as closely as possible together in foreign and security policy Because we share the same region We live in the same continent We have the same strategic interests and by the way the global strategy we are discussing Is a global strategy at 28? That's also the uk as welcomed so We will see what time We'll bring we will see what kind of determination will come in london Things look still a little bit confused there, but i'm confident that the government will reflect on this And it's a come up with some clarity What is clear is that for sure we will continue to work in the framework of nature And for sure we will continue to work as neighbors, but I would like to add one thing many We're telling me in this this week's European union is losing a lot in foreign policy and in security policy, which is true We lose a permanent member of the security council We lose the main military Actor of the european union We lose the main donor in terms of aid we lose the Largest and someone would say it best, but i cannot diplomatic network in the words There's a couple of british diplomats here that will be happy about that I can I can say for sure one of the best After the italian one, obviously That's all a joke We lose a lot But think of what the uk lose Because obviously The uk will depending on what kind of arrangements we have but you know The uk i imagine will be invited to take part to our missions and operations in the future as it is the case for canada or colombia or chile or korea But it would not be part anymore of the decision making process so losing the seat of the table It's going to be an interesting conversation Interesting is a very diplomatic way of putting that. Yeah. I'm learning No, thank you very much. Let's open it up to the audience. You can just raise your hand wait for the microphone Amal please here And just identify yourself please and remember to end with a question mark. Yes. Thank you My name is amal modelleli with the wilson center My question is concerning your talk about syria You said that Now there's space for transition and you said the neighbors are convinced now there is no military solution Does this include russia and iran? And the other part of the question is what Levels of power the eu had to convince asad That militarily on the ground and you're not important in the process. Thank you I apologize Our old neighbors convinced russia and iran For sure I convinced that there is no military solution to the crisis. I think that actually Both might be worried That there could be an only military Approach to the crisis because they could become a trap for both of them Some have spoken about or written about An afghanistan for russia Which is not the case today, but syria is a complex place and and Russia has a muslim population Has to deal with In turn, so the risks are high. I see russia and iran Are aware of the fact that a transition In Damascus and a political setting is the only way that There might be some doubts in some other actors in the region On the effectiveness of a political solution to the crisis my Simple answer to that is that after six years of war if there was For its proper english That's why the british diplomats are good because they have no language problems as well as the americans even if the british could argue about american english, but If there was a military solution In six years time, he would have had it already Military campaign around syria on syria in syria has been ongoing for so much time that While the the political efforts is relatively new so If someone has the illusion of winning a war After six years of engagements on the ground Um, I think it's just an illusion. The only way is really engaging them on On the political transition, uh, which also will call for some some compromises Uh, I'm not among those that believe that compromises mean that There is any kind of role for us in the future of the country But on the sequencing or on the timing or on the transitional arrangements I think there will have to be some talks Among the syrians first of all Because at the end of the day it's their country and they will have to take responsibility jointly For their country. What kind of leverage do we have for Assad? to leave The european union is not the first Actor to have leverage on Assad. It's clearly more for iran russia to exercise some let's say pressure or Passing some convincing arguments It is true though that the european union traditionally and even currently Is one of the players in the region that has good relations to all The european union is not as such part of the military campaign We As I said still have a technical office in damascos delivering Aid humanitarian aid and we still have some diplomatic channels open We are among the few around the table having these instruments and we might Use some of these instruments at a certain moment But again, the first step is to have a succession of hostilities in place in the territory Otherwise, there will be no space For political talks to start crediting simply because It would be unsustainable for the syrian parties to sit somewhere in geniva While people in syria are dying on the on the ground the legitimacy the credibility of the political talks will be completely No credible for the syrians and the first thing we have to buy is the syrian ownership of this process I think we've learned our lessons Well Peace cannot be imposed from the top as to be built from the from the ground Yes, sir uh, chris kruckenberg stimson As you said throughout this this whole session europe has a lot on its plate I was wondering if you could talk about how much of a priority the t-tip negotiations with the united states is You know in light of all this other stuff that you would also have to deal with. Thank you I would be very interested in asking the same question here Uh It's it's uh, it's a top priority T-tip is a top priority relations with the united states In other fields apart from trade, uh, is a top priority as I hope I Clearly said Also relations and trade relations with other partners across the atlantic like canada or mexico Are also very important for us For two reasons one is that we are really convinced that a trade agreements with the united states of that kind would be Given that we still have to finalize the negotiation. So Cannot enter into the details, but would be extremely beneficial for our economies Both the american and european economy and we both need To invest in our economic growth Significantly because we're coming out of important financial economic crisis So we need to invest in job creation growth and trade So we see the economic advantages of that But also because let's be clear if we I mean we are we are friends. We are natural friends We are brothers and sisters If we cannot have a trade agreement of that kind among us With whom it would put into question the all Trade agreement system That we are arguing for in the world So I think that it has a more political and symbolic value that I know is questioned on both sides of the atlantic But I think that the combination of these two elements the economic advantages on both sides and uh The political significance of strengthening the bonds among us Uh, would be extremely important. So we really hope and we discussed this Um, a couple of weeks ago. We had the eu us Leaders meeting in worso. Uh, we were meeting with president obama and We restated our common commitment to try and finalize Negotiations as soon as possible. I know this is controversial here It's also controversial in europe But leadership is also about guiding countries Through decisions that might be controversial, but we know are good for our people We probably have time for just a couple more questions. This way in the back there. Yes We'll take a couple of questions together. So we have more time. I don't know. That's fine. Yeah Yep right there, please Speak louder. Yep. Um, you mentioned that a coup cannot Change a legitimate government and I was wondering then as consistent with european arms sales to The military dictatorship in egypt Didn't hear you too much Just repeat the last part of it. I was wondering how the policy against coups is consistent european policy toward the military To the leaders regarding the extensive arms sales from european country Hey, that's one question. Let's take one more so we can answer them together. Yes, please No There you go. I think it's working With brexit on the horizon, um, do you see the east? And if so, how but on On egypt, uh, we have a quite consistent policy We work together on some files. Uh, for instance on some regional issues like in least this process Or on libya or on syria, uh, we have Uh, a constant work on human rights And this is part of our daily work on the ground We support and sustain the work of human rights defenders Activists and NGOs trade unions media We work very much on media freedom. Uh, and uh, we have human rights and the role of civil society As an integral part of our high level dialogues I met with minister She'll create just this morning by the margins of this this ministerial today And as you know, uh, our security Sector corporation has been uh, let's say on hold for a while So I think this is a consistent policy on the other side The european way is also a way of engagement. Uh, this is also something I Particularly strongly believe in Uh, it's especially when you have problems with a partner or with an interlocutor that you need to talk Raising wills or or Interrupting communication is never a good idea if you want to improve situations on the ground engaging Sometimes critical engagement most of the times critical engagement Is the way in which we can first of all keep contact with The population Because we have a significant people-to-people exchange with Egypt in particular for instance, I think of civil society exchanges It's something important for keeping Societies open and resilient Apart from the institutional contents So we will continue with that kind of policy on uh, how to If it will be strengthened foreign policy of the european union Foreign security you said Of the european union after the perspectives of a brexit I think I made it quite clear. Yes, it will be strengthened and How first of all I think that The result of the referendum in the uk was somehow A reality check inside the european union While we were talking about defense issues, let me use a parallel They it is somehow a deterrent For those in the european union that Might have thought in the past month or years that a referendum to exit the union would solve all problems I think that they now see that Actually, uh, london has more problems than brussels today So, uh, I am convinced and and by the way in foreign policy in particular and in security policy in particular Every single european country Is a middle or small-sized country in the world If you need to negotiate a trade agreement with china If you need to have a military naval operation in the mediterranean If you need to, uh, work with, uh, countries in africa to manage together the phenomenon of migration And you do it as a single country of europe You have much less instruments than if you pull together all our instruments as europeans and this is why You hear so much From london even in these days That they want to keep the strongest possible cooperation on foreign security policy with european union even in the future because they see very well That together you're stronger in the words That's that's very simple the bigger you are the more instruments you have the more, um In all fields, uh, the big You're more powerful and your policies are more effective. So this is also an exercise we've done with the global strategy Uh, the starting point of this is exactly this if we are together as europeans is out of the Choice that our people made to join together Because we knew that together we had more powerful instruments to serve Our citizens interests better Sometimes you hear, uh, european leaders referring to Uh transferring Sovranity to the european level which is something unacceptable Actually in the world of today You do not transfer sovereignty you regain sovereignty if you manage to exercise sovereignty jointly at the european level Because at the end of the day you make decisions together There's no one coming from the outside taking decisions You have the 28 leaders making decisions all together, but then you have additional instruments That make you much more powerful. So I believe that this will be the political Uh, leverage we will have to increase cooperation even more and on the sector of defense as I said we have, uh An all set of uh measures that the treaties foresee That we have not used yet And that are there so no need for treaty changes No need for big institutional debates I am working on the follow-up of the strategy also on the field of security and defense Putting on the table of the member states all different options For what we can already now do together To increase our instruments to guarantee security to our people And I believe there is an interest In our people and our leaders as well to use the instruments we have already So I think this will be the way not a treaty change But the full use of all the instruments that we have already and that we have not used in the past Because of lack of political wealth. I think that it's time To invest seriously in our security Uh, also in our security role in the world And to use the instruments we already have to do that Thanks So one of the worst parts of being a moderator is having to bring really interesting conversations to a close But I did promise we'd end at seven Okay, I'm sure that's fine So why don't we take two together I guess this one Right here, please Thank you very much and um high representative Mogherini. Thank you for My name is Emma Louise Leahy with For describing the um free track Actors that you identified were all international actors. Um, would you care to comment? What role you see for One more together with that. Yes in the back, please Hi, I'm Roberta Rampton with Reuters And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you what your reaction is to the statements last night from The republican presidential candidate Who said that he might abandon the article five commitment of NATO if elected I knew if we left the room for enough questions Thank you, thank you very much You need to take this I was clear enough. I think uh, what I said that's uh, uh Strengthening European defense Is a way of strengthening NATO and strengthening NATO is a way of strengthening American security Uh, I think this is a basic Evidence for all Americans. It has been so for the last 70 years And NATO has been uh, what has provided us both Europeans and Americans security for all these decades And uh, it's based on the principle of solidarity So On our side, we know very well that we need to work more on our defense capabilities On our, uh, as I said But on the other side, uh, it's clear that basic principle of an alliance Is solidarity then I'm not NATO secretary general. I don't vote in the US elections It's not for me to comment on that. I have my own political ideas, but it's doesn't count here But the role of NATO and the importance of NATO and the strength and the credibility Of the alliance is something that is very important for every single European citizen And I believe also for every single American citizen because It's very simple to realize that in the world of today, which is quite a complicated one and quite a dangerous one unit friends unit friends alone you don't solve much and America is lucky enough. Well has worked hard In the past to build friendships and alliances and credibility To these friendships and alliances And this is what makes America strong That it can count on strong partners and friends and allies to make America's security strong. So I would invest in NATO The other question was about the Gulf countries. Yes I uh, they're all that the Gulf countries And that they're not all the same but in any case that the Gulf countries in general have In our common work on Syria is key in particular because they have close relations and close strong influence on the opposition in Syria We are also working on the opposition in Syria and with them We hosted recently in Brussels several meetings of the Syrian opposition To prepare them for negotiations To have a discussion also on the future of the country The Gulf countries have a significant role in that and yes, they are working in the same direction They're working to to prepare the opposition to talks They also have a role on the security aspects of it For the moment, yes, we are working Well together. There's always more than one can do But I think that there is a certain awareness of the fact that The spread of Daesh Could constitute a threat also for the Gulf countries And that is a self-interest of the Gulf countries to guarantee that The Daesh threat does not expand and that Actually It is a responsibility also of the Sunni majority countries to counter the narrative of a terrorist organization that is also playing on Fake religious narrative and sectarian divisions So we're working also on that with the Gulf countries on trying to prevent radicalization and find the correct ways of preventing and countering radicalization narratives And I think they are important instruments to do that Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you'll join me in thanking Federico Mogherini for a really thoughtful thinking


I'm going to do a bit of a rundown of some popular WordPress themes, some positives and negatives there. Some of the most popular ones at the moment, look, we don't have time to go through everything and I've probably missed a few as well, but I sort of approached it from the point of view that most people will be running some type of page builder now, whether or not that's Elementor or VivaBuilder on what we were sort of discussing last week. I sort of went to compare them and sort of to see what the fastest was. So I did have a controlled sort of experiment where I loaded in a few different options and I went either for the Hello theme which is the Elementor new theme that's just out through Astra, through Generate Press, the page builder framework and although I didn't analyze Genesis the same way, I chucked it in there as well because it's something that I've used in my agency for 10 years. One thing I didn't do is review any of this rubbish. They are multi-purpose themes and they're not really going to solve anything for you. They may look good, the B theme right, 450 pre-built templates or using like three plugins to make them look good. Visual content is never going to fit into any of those templates so it's really not worth bothering about any of this. I did notice there that the Jupiter X theme has been updated to use Elementor now. So I thought that was interesting but the rest of them are pretty much using this Enfold has its own theme builder, Flatsim has its own, Avada is using Visual Composer. I went into plugins and Visual Composer and stuff last month so I'll upload those slides for you. But yes lots of pre-bundled plugins, Revolution Slider and things like that. I think that's a gif. Briefly touching on that if you turn off Visual Composer this is what your site will look like.  I think that was actually Divi code but it's very much the same. So just don't. So what themes do we look at? We looked at the Hello theme. So this is Elementor's theme. They say it's the fastest WordPress theme ever created. I'm not sure if it is but all my tests said that it wasn't. But it's a free theme and it's good for landing pages and it's very bare bones. It won't give you many options whatsoever but good for things like landing pages or if you are just using Elementor. Really depends on your use case. Then looked at Astra which is built by Brainstorm Force, a company out of India. They have a free and a pro version of that. They also have a few other functions that we'll go into. Generic Prius. It seemed to stem out of a cleaner version of Genesis. It's now come on a lot. There's a lot of different options. I haven't personally used it only for this test but Edmund looked like you were using it. Have you been using this for a few years already? We have the premium variant which comes with more options especially for Google comments on customizations. So it's also like weight, like body cancels over there. So I recommend this one. There's also a page builder framework which has been out for about a year or two and specifically built for page builders and was the fastest out of all that I tested. But I haven't really built anything with it just for the tests. And what I use in my agency is Genesis by Studio Press which is now owned by WP Engine. Their themes kind of came about probably in the 2009 plus when things were built mainly with widgets. They had a lot of turnkey solutions mainly focused in the blogging area rather than business sites. But all their themes are pretty much Gutenberg compatible now so they're moving away from widgets into Gutenberg. So it can be a good way to get started. Otherwise they have a very clean site to get started off as well. So we'll kind of go through each one a little bit and let you know what it looks like. This is the Hello Theme. It was released in May this year. It's free from the WordPress repository. Has no headers or footers. Everything's built with Elementor so you'd have to use Elementor Pro to have that functionality or use something like Beaver Builder, Beaver Thema. It's no mega framework or anything like that. There's no features and there's no integrations. There's nothing in the customizer. It's just a blank canvas. So if you pull it out of the box and install it, it's going to look like this. Which is a little misleading when you look at the screenshots that they have. So you have pretty much nothing, an aesthetic page.  This is the Blog Archive View. So no styling there either. Head of two tags for here. Head of one for archives. No metadata so you'll see there's no comments, there's no dates or anything like that. They could obviously be done with Action Hooks. But out of the box there's nothing there. This is a single post view which is pretty underwhelming as well. It has some basic comment status but not really that much there either. Very bare bones. It does run an H1 tag which is good so all the semantics are there but not much metadata. It has some basic WooCommerce but if you look at it because there's no options that's the default WooCommerce settings and colors. So you then have to dig in and customize that. So in the customizer you pretty much have no settings besides the normal WooCommerce WordPress ones. So identity, menus, home page settings and additional CSS. So definitely something to use with Elementor and obviously that's what they want you to do. Astro was the next one we checked out. They have a free and a pro version. Down in the repository headers and footers can be built using the theme as well. And it has a child theme generator. So if you go on to somewhere on there there's a link under starter sites I think.  So it's good because sometimes renaming all those files can be a bit of a problem. It saves you a bit of time so it generates you a child theme. This is what it looks out of the box. So as you can see there's already a little bit of style. Not great style but at least you can see that there's a defined header, content section and sidebar. I mean not many people are using sidebars anymore but that's the default look. And it has metadata so you have to leave a comment of you know who it's by. So it's a little bit more in depth there. This is the single post view so again it has the comments that have styled a little bit as well so you don't have to worry about that. As an indifference here you can see that if you have customised everything to blue then it at least lines up. I think maybe this is the one pixel out but all your colours are going to come through as well or the tabs are not the default ones so it does bring through your styling. Everything again built in the customiser so there's more options for Astro Pro like there is on most of the themes nowadays, layout settings, colours and backgrounds and things. So that's all customised through there. One of the strengths they have and GenericPress has as well is the ready to import website. So turnkey websites that are either built on Elementor, BeaverBuilder, Gutenberg or Breezy. So you can download some of those. Some of those will be agency level, some of them will be free. This one we looked at was GenericPress and look I haven't used this that much. Just for testing there's a free and premium version. It's performance focused there is a theme library as well, a site library there which you can download some created by Tom Osborne which is a pretty good guy in the community. So out of the box it's very similar look to Genesis and a little bit similar to Astro as well so it has a clear navigation and then the sidebar look as well. All the options here are then based in the customiser so you can go and change a lot of those settings there. One thing it does as well and this is for the premium version you can go through and activate these settings so Astra has this setting as well so you can turn things on or off depending on what you need. So if you wanted to run some hooks you can run that through this element here if you wanted to change the copyright you can activate those settings in there and make those changes. So if you were wanting to run some hooks it can be done through here as well so you can either execute some PHP personally I wouldn't I'd do that in the functions.php file as mentioned before but it's an option anyway and then it has some layout options so you can do the format of posts which I'm not sure too many people use but when Tumblr was big WordPress decided to bring it through and then there's some options fsi bar and footer widgets as well again very sort of blog focused and there's a theme layout library so it really depends on what you need there you can import any of those. Page builder okay I only went in through slightly it's a modern page builder showcase and WordPress so made for page builders only and it's pretty fast so it does have a child theme generator so like what I was saying before you can put your theme name in and theme description your version your author and it will populate all your files from there so you can just if you have a screenshot and download that so similar to Astra which makes things as a developer a lot easier again all the options here in the customizer pretty standard things there has a header has a footer section and some widgets as well and you can change the options customizer layout colors and things like that it has one good menu as well which is performance settings so if you do want a global full width template settings so you are using a page builder and you want every page to be full width it's just a little checkbox if you then want to remove the page title from this page it's a little checkbox and most of these settings are now bundled into your performance optimization plugins like if you're using WP rocket or something like that but it's nice that it will clean up some of that rubbish that you don't need necessarily the feed links if you're not running RSS and embeds and emojis if you're not running that so it's a little good thing it also has your white label access as well if you're a developer and you don't want people to know that you're running that theme that can be your company's theme briefly on Genesis which is what we have used for just on 10 years now it's a highly customizable child theme designs previously with widgets now with Gutenberg recommended by Yoast, Matt Karts, Matt Malangwerg and some of the other big players in the market as well it's also had it's all of its security code or all of its code reviewed by Mark Jackweth as well who is a big security expert so it's a lightweight coding it has a really big community as well has a big following so there's a lot of people doing some good stuff in that space very heavily relied on hooks and filters as well and the changes that they're making for version 3 plus a really good so a really simple breakdown is that it's built sort of from an SEO perspective up and it's not going to really let you do anything it's got a good community behind it that you can contribute back to so out of the box is what the front end looks like now and that's all built with Gutenberg so there's a sample theme on github that you can download options now so this is where the options used to be they're now rolled into customizer but very similar options as well all updates and things very rarely break anything but yeah it's quite a robust theme out of the box these are your different child theme options so these aren't included in some type of pro plan or I think it is a $500 plan and you get access to all their themes if you're a WP engine customer you get access to all this as well since they bought them out you can just go and roll any of these themes in but they're all very widget based so if you do want to run a page builder with it so they have Gutenberg and WooCommerce support but if you do want to run a page builder with it you can run this Genesis Downbuster named because of the Beaver Builder integration but it just makes all your pages full width basically the community so it has a really active Genesis WP Slack community which is an unlimited account because WP Engine are paying for it so there's history that goes back a fair while and there are lots of different channels for development as well so right so for the testing that I did we tested both the free and the pro versions we tested different capabilities we tested the page size and the requests and we tried to match apples to apples as much as we could except for the Genesis one that one's a little bit different the test environment was a Cloudways VPS DNS via Cloudflare but I didn't bother using any caching so all that was turned off latest WordPress and then we disabled pretty much everything that we could even includes of additional pages and blog posts and things we just turned all that off what did we test so we ran some tests so header and footer without content so basically a simple page with no content we then ran header and footer with some content and then header and footer with a theme builder so those are the options that we ran I've got one lot of results here which is the header and footer with a theme builder and then the it's a demo Elementor version so we just downloaded a template check that into each of them and then tested them and the results we have here so this is pretty much the theme with a few different options turned on so the hello theme ran a little bit a little bit longer than I thought it would 2.1 seconds considering it really doesn't have any options whatsoever 62 requests so an additional request from there Astro came out pretty standard a little bit page size a little bit more generate press came in in sort of second place in terms of load time and page builder framework came in as the quickest out of them all but realistically if you're if you're looking at them all they're all really good results I mean under two seconds for a three and a half megabyte page is pretty good anyway 62 61 requests so to be honest when I saw most of these results and the ones with no comment no content at all very similar as well so to be honest if you picked any of these themes you're at a good start anyway it really depends whether or not you want options in terms of the hello you sort of just want to use a page builder or if you want a few more options in Astro generate press and and page builder framework prices are all very similar as well around sort of $50 for the pro versions because I didn't run any other tests I would just run that one before so yeah a little bit slower for for a live site but obviously it had just one option there and that's just running from their demo server so 4.6 seconds is a little bit slow for a 460 kilobyte site but any 39 requests so it's not an apples for apples comparison there but a sort of good test anyway so in conclusion like I was saying they're pretty much all good except for anything from theme forest astro and Genesis and my favorites just because I've worked with them a lot more but page builder framework was a little bit surprising in terms of the speed that it had really depends whether or not you're building landing pages customized sites with it with all sort of we're just landing pages so stick with one don't try them all out and then just go with that because the difference is a really really minimal and that's it really so I didn't really go into any e-commerce functionality in this the e-commerce functionality in flat sums okay but generally speaking if you're just talking about building a site that these themes are okay there's this whole bunch of complexities evolve with e-commerce so I didn't really look at it here our flat sums and okay theme yeah they're all we commerce compatible it depends though because they're all white label themes so they're pretty much blank so if you download that theme you're not going to get a lot of style you'll get the default WordPress or would commerce look you then have to customize it yourself whereas something like flat some has a template already so that's a difference no so you do something like elementary or be the builder on top of it yeah your speed yeah your speed and requests will come down yeah they've got their own builder it's not exactly visual composer but it's similar in terms of how it builds in short codes out of the box it looks quite good for an e-commerce site it loads okay as well but yeah I mean I didn't really go with e-commerce for this talk it was more just you know a straight theme out of the box mainly for using page builders no that was something else that was on the list I ran out of time for testing them all but yeah there's that but I haven't tried that one yet just in terms of options so that the element or hello theme really gives you no option for your header so you have to use Elementor Pro to build the header and the footer yeah in terms of performance between them very negligible it really depends on the features that you want from that base theme if you're happy to build everything in a page builder then the hello theme works fine if you want a few options to customize your colors and your fonts and things then some like Astra generate press or page builder framework gives you those options otherwise you have to do it in Elementor or in your CSS you're talking about like microseconds that the difference between them all so your dependencies around your scripts and what you add into your page builders where you're gonna slow it down image sizes and things like that you're not really going to save that much between each of these different options cool all right