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Coronavirus strikes at the heart of European defense (v2)

(B2) An official from the European Defense Agency has tested positive for Coronavirus. Some colleagues have been quarantined. Precautionary measures triggered

Minimum space instructions of one meter not respected at the informal Council of Defense Ministers (source: EBS - selection B2)

A member of the Defense Agency tested positive

This staff member had recently visited Italy (Milan and Cortina) and returned to Brussels on February 23, the European Defense Agency said.. “The first symptoms appeared on Saturday evening (February 29). Very mild symptoms. He tested positive." confirms a press release published on Wednesday (March 4). " He has not returned to the Agency since and is currently at home in isolation since the appearance ».

Precautionary measures at the Agency

Protective measures have been taken. 1° The people in contact with the affected personnel have been asked “ self-isolate for 14 days as a precaution ". 2° All meetings to be held on the premises of the EDA have been canceled until March 13, 2020 inclusive, as well as those organized by the Agency outside its premises. 3. No staff will attend external meetings before this date. 4° The office and meeting facilities of the staff member concerned have been disinfected.

Clear instructions given

In the meantime, we learned that a EU Council official was also detected positive. He had been in contact with the EDA agent (1). Instructions have been passed to all European agents and officials: no physical contact, not even a simple handshake, minimum distance of one meter with all interlocutors, avoid any unnecessary meeting. We touch the depths of the European system, a paradise for meeting people.

Will the Covid19 spread like wildfire

If the instructions seem to be little respected at the level of the civil service, it is not the same apparently for the Ministers of Defense meeting from Wednesday evening in Zagreb. Proximity was the rule – it is true that this is somewhat the principle of these informal meetings – between EU ministers, senior officials and NATO allies, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

A blow from Trafalgar for European defense

Comment: Before long, we could therefore have most of the ministries of defense forced to confine themselves. After the scarcity of exercises, we would thus witness a victory by knockout of the European defense establishment, which no adversary has ever dreamed of. A little Covid19. And hop ! the advanced presence in the East, the European defenses reduced to zero 😉

(updated March 5) Several other suspects at the agency

Two other staff members were tested for COVID-19 as suspects. The result of the test was not yet known Thursday during the day, according to our information. They isolated themselves at home. And "there is no unfavorable development in their state of health" told us a European official. The agency has also been temporarily closed to limit the spread of the disease. No staff member has returned to the Agency since March 2. According to our information, one or more suspicious cases have also been observed at the European Union headquarters. And NATO's main headquarters in Europe (SHAPE) also announced the detection of a case in a member of staff (and two members of his family), as the Belgian press reports.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

  1. The European Defense Agency denied that the agent concerned had attended a meeting with 30 officials from other EU institutions.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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