La escasez de capacidades seguras de videoconferencia para la Uni\u00f3n Europea hace que el ministro de Defensa de Alemania se pregunte si la OTAN podr\u00eda compartir su sofisticado aparato de comunicaciones en tiempos de Covid-19. Ambas organizaciones tienen una presencia considerable en Bruselas, pero aparentemente solo la alianza est\u00e1 equipada para facilitar discusiones sensibles en l\u00ednea desde su sede.<\/p>\n
COLOGNE, Germany \u2013 A shortage of secure video-conferencing capabilities for the European Union has Germany\u2019s defense minister wondering if NATO might share its sophisticated communications apparatus in times of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Both organizations have sizable footprints in Brussels, but apparently only the alliance is equipped to facilitate sensitive discussions online from its headquarters building in the northeastern part of town.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have anyway wondered why EU institutions aren\u2019t just going there,\u201d Kramp-Karrenbauer said during a Dec. 11 online discussion focused on reviewing Germany\u2019s six-month term holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union. The alliance building, she added, \u201cis big enough,\u201d and secure meetings connecting leaders from both sides of the Atlantic are commonplace there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we \u2013 as it seems for the foreseeable future \u2013 must continue to meet virtually, then we have two options,\u201d Kramp-Karrenbauer said. Either the European Union bureaucracy creates its own secure communications infrastructure in line with NATO standards, or, in the spirit of neighborly relations in Brussels, bloc officials are allowed access to secure alliance lines, she added.<\/p>\n
The recent surprise appearance of a Dutch journalist at a supposedly confidential online gathering of EU defense ministers drove home the need to keep sensitive defense<\/a> information under wraps, according to Kramp-Karrenbauer. On the agenda at the November meeting was one of the most sensitive issues on the bloc\u2019s agenda at the moment: the development of a common threat assessment<\/a> supported by all member states.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all but certain that the Russian and Chinese governments are interested in listening in when it comes to such matters.<\/p>\n But loaning NATO communications capabilities for EU business may not be that much of a low-hanging fruit for improved cooperation between the two organizations. If \u201cwhatever sensitivities\u201d get in the way, Kramp-Karrenbauer said, then the bloc would have to get its act together and build similar capabilities from scratch.<\/p>\n According to a NATO official, making alliance systems available to all EU members \u201cwould have to be assessed carefully\u201d given that only only 21 out of NATO\u2019s 30 members are also members of the European Union.<\/p>\n \u201cNATO operates secure IT networks which allow our 30 allies to exchange classified information,\u201d the official told Defense News, adding that senior EU officials in the fields of defense and security have previously joined classified NATO meetings via secure video connection.<\/p>\n