Category: Europe

Corporal John D. Foy, Staff Sergeant George K. Mullins, Private First Class Fred J. Nungesser Jr, and Corporal Joseph R. Picard are now all 99 years old but as young men they fought to free Europe from tyranny. Mr Rutte paid tribute to them, “we are really honoured that you are all here. I can only start to imagine what you have gone through to liberate this part of the world. Amongst you, you have been in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany… I would like to say to you, on behalf of the whole Alliance, a heartfelt thank you for your service.”  NATO staff and members of Allied delegations applauded as the four veterans entered the Headquarters. 
 
This winter marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium, and next year will be the 80th anniversary of the end of the World War II in Europe, V-E Day. The veterans were also welcomed to NATO HQ by the Chair of the Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer, who underscored the value of their service. “Many, many millions of people have to thank you, and are thanking you, for what you have done because what you have done made it possible for us in Europe to live the lives we wanted to live.”

As they arrived, the former servicemen were also greeted by the Director General of the International Military Staff, Lieutenant General Janusz Adamczak, and Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield from the US Mission to NATO.

Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber, James Appathurai said: “We need to double down on our innovation efforts. Advanced batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and other innovations are enablers of key military capabilities. They can directly translate into enhanced battlefield performance and provide NATO with a technological edge against potential adversaries.”
  
The event included speakers from the International Energy Agency, the European Commission, NATO’s Energy Security Centre of Excellence, the US Department of Defense, the University of Bonn, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the Centre for Global Studies Strategy XXI, and industry representatives from WindEurope, HIF Global, Alba Emission Free Energy, and Rystad Energy.

These companies are developing deep technology solutions to respond to pressing security challenges related to energy & power, sensing & surveillance, data & information security, human health & performance, and critical infrastructure & logistics.

As part of the programme, the companies will each receive €100,000 in funding, training in technology, commercial development and defence, and opportunities to test their solutions in a variety of specialised environments.

“We are proud to welcome the newest cohort of innovators into DIANA,” said Professor Deeph Chana, Managing Director of DIANA. “Over the coming months, these creative, highly skilled companies will accelerate the development of their dual-use technologies as they work to solve a suite of complex, interconnected defence, security and resilience challenges.”

“The 2025 innovators form a truly impressive cohort combining deep technological expertise and creative problem-solving,” said Chief Scientist Tien Pham. “We look forward to supporting the technical development of these innovators, while connecting them to DIANA’s network of mentors, test centres and end users as they grow their companies and apply their ideas to Allied needs.”

Over 70 companies, headquartered across 20 NATO countries, were selected through a competitive process from more than 2,600 submissions to DIANA’s Challenge call earlier in 2024. They specialise in a range of technological fields from quantum sensing to propulsion technology and biomedical equipment.

Further information is available on LinkedIn and on the DIANA website: DIANA
The complete list of companies can be found here: DIANA | 2025 Cohort of Companies

The event, hosted by Carnegie Europe in cooperation with NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, will take place at Concert Noble, Brussels.

Media advisory

15:00 (CET)   “To Prevent War, NATO Must Spend More”: a Conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Media coverage

• Physical access to media is by invitation only. Media wishing to participate online should register here.
   
• The event will be streamed live on the  NATO website and broadcast live on EBU News Exchange.
   
• A transcript of the Secretary General’s remarks, as well as pictures, will be available on the  NATO website. Video will be available for free download from the  NATO Multimedia Portal after the event.

For more information:
Contact the NATO Press Office

For more information about the event, please contact Mr Mattia Bagherini at Mattia.Bagherini@ceip.org or access Carnegie Europe’s event webpage.

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Secretary General Rutte praised the Moldovan President for her country’s resilience against unprecedented Russian interference and other significant challenges including political pressure, disinformation and hybrid threats. He thanked Ms Sandu for her staunch leadership in helping to uphold the rules-based international order following Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. He also welcomed Moldova’s continued valuable contributions to international security, including by deploying troops to the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR).

This year NATO and Moldova marked 30 years of partnership. Both the political dialogue and practical cooperation that underpin NATO-Moldova relations have grown significantly in recent years. Through an enhanced defence capacity building package, NATO and Allies continue to help Moldova strengthen its resilience, counter disinformation and respond to cyber-attacks, supporting its path towards its European integration. 

They were joined by industry representatives, including telecommunications operators. Participants at the meeting reviewed mechanisms to boost situational awareness, to enhance information sharing and preparedness, and to deter and defend against attacks to undersea infrastructure.

“Leveraging innovation and technology, including through increased sensing and monitoring to detect suspicious activity near critical undersea infrastructure, is a key focus,” said Ambassador Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber. “This is not a new problem set for NATO, but it is one that requires even closer cooperation between civilian and military actors in the face of intensifying hostile campaigns, including by Russia.”

In May, NATO launched a new Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure within the Alliance’s Maritime Command in the United Kingdom. With growing threats to subsea infrastructure, NATO created earlier this year a Critical Undersea Network to improve information sharing and coordination for the security of undersea cables and pipelines. The Network brings together stakeholders from Allies’ governments, industries, NATO’s civilian and military headquarters as well as other relevant actors.

She holds a Master of Business and Economics from Uppsala University. She spent an additional year studying trade law.

After her studies, she worked on financial audit in the private sector at the Stockholm offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC. She spent two years working at the IT audit department and during her last seven years at the firm, she served as a certified public accountant with a focus on auditing large enterprises. 

Subsequently, she joined the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS), focusing on different regulatory measures in the market for electronic communication. At PTS, she served in various managerial positions and as a project manager of major development projects. During her time at PTS, she was appointed as Sweden’s permanent representative to the Communications Committee, an advisory body under the European Commission with responsibility for various regulatory issues.  

Since 2007, she has been employed at the Swedish National Audit Office. She has held various positions within the Financial Audit Department, including Head of Unit, Head of Technical Support, and project leader. She also served as a long-term advisor in a development project in Tanzania for three years with the objectives of implementing international auditing standards and rolling out audit software to all public sector auditors in the country. In 2018, she was appointed Head of the Financial Audit Department, which includes overall responsibility for the financial audit of all central government agencies in Sweden. In this role, she has been a member of the top management group at the Swedish National Audit Office. 

She has represented the Swedish National Audit Office as a member of INTOSAI’s working group Financial Audit and Accounting Subcommittee (FAAS) since 2018. In 2024, before joining IBAN, she was Vice-chair of FAAS.