Comece: in Europeinfos, “the conundrum of defence” and the pro-European initiatives born in the last few months

(Brussels) “We must accept that the fight against external physical threats to Europe is NATO’s responsibility, while the EU focuses its efforts on measures such as diplomacy, information and economic strategies. The military measure is used to strengthen the capabilities of the common security and defence policy by supporting security and development”, “beyond our borders”: this is in brief the opinion on the EU’s defence strategy that Brigadier General Heinz Krieb outlines in the May issue of Europeinfos, the monthly magazine of the Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences (Comece), which goes back to the problem of defence it had already dealt with in April. According to Krieb, “the conundrum of defence is in trying to achieve the EU’s political ambition (protecting Europe and its citizens) within the scope of action of the Maastricht Treaty and the member states’ obligations as part of NATO”. Whatever the outcome of the discussions that also concern “permanent structured cooperation” (Pesco), of course “Europe must fight the evolving threats at the source instead of waiting for them to happen within our borders”, Krieb writes. Europeinfos also contains a critical review of the just-launched EU Regulation on the responsible sourcing of minerals and a review of the pro-European initiatives born in the last few months, “the heralds of Europe’s renewal” (www.europe-infos.eu).