The Chief of Defence attends the biannual meeting with his Belgian and Hungarian counterparts.

• The 'Trio' meeting is hosted by Spain as the country that holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Chief of Defence, Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón, today attended a meeting of the Trio of Chiefs of Defence with his counterparts from Belgium and Hungary in Brussels. This working meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, Austrian General Robert Brieger.

This is brought together at the end of the six-month period by the Chief of Defence of the country holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, on this occasion Spain.

The purpose of the Trio is to provide coordination and continuity to the work in the field of defence that takes place during each semester. At today's meeting, the Spanish side took note of the achievements of the last six months, and informed the attendees of the initiatives that had been implemented but not yet concluded.

The Belgian and Hungarian Chiefs of Defence reported on the priorities to be implemented during the rotating presidencies of their respective countries.

The Chairman of the EU Military Committee, for his part, took stock of the past six months and offered advice for the incoming presidencies.

The Trio is made up of the three countries that will hold the consecutive presidencies of the Council of the European Union. For the sake of stability, it is not the current, previous and next presidencies, but the same three for 18 months. The Trio CHOD meeting can also be in the TRIO+TRIO format, which brings together one Trio with the next, usually at the end of the outgoing Trio's term for a "handover". This was the format of the Trio meeting organised by Sweden in May 2023. Spain has initiated the next Trio Presidency.