Josep Borrell will present his fellow European Commissioners with the first draft of the “Strategic Compass”, the closest thing the EU could have to a military doctrine and akin to NATO‘s “Strategic Concept” that sets out alliance goals.
“Europe is in danger,” the EU’s foreign policy chief will say, according to a draft foreword.
He will stress that the U.S.-led NATO alliance remains primarily responsible for Europe’s collective defence.
While European countries have highly-trained soldiers and cyber, naval and air power, resources are duplicated across 27 militaries and EU train-and-assist missions are modest in size.
Member states also lack the logistics and command and control capabilities of the United States and cannot match its intelligence-gathering.
A separate threat assessment is confidential, but diplomats cite the failing states on Europe’s frontiers as areas where the EU might need to send peacekeepers or evacuate citizens.
EU foreign and defence ministers will take up the issue on Monday, aiming to agree a final political document in March.
Read the full story on Euronews
