The NATO fears a second wave of corona in autumn this year. According to SPIEGEL information, the ambassadors of the alliance decided in secret last week with the general secretary Jens Stoltenberg, to get a military operation plan underway immediately. With this, the military alliance wants to be better prepared for a new outbreak of the virus and to be able to support affected NATO partners more efficiently.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Francois Lenoir / REUTERS
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The operation plan is to be developed under the aegis of NATO General, U.S. General Todd Wolters. NATO diplomats say the alliance needs to arm itself better. So far, the danger posed by virus pandemics has not been sufficiently targeted. Therefore, in addition to the operation plan for an impending second corona wave in autumn, a long-term “Pandemic Response Contingency Plan” is to be developed.
Stoltenberg puts pressure on the corona operation plan. If it is up to him, a first paper should already be available at the next deliberations of the defense ministers at the end of June and a decision will be made. In the secret NATO Council with the ambassadors, Stoltenberg said that a more coordinated response to a second corona wave was a litmus test for the credibility and cohesion within the alliance. The second, large-scale pandemic plan for the alliance will take longer.
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A bit frustrated, the NATO chief had observed that the alliance on the Corona pandemic was anything but well prepared. This not only affected the effects on NATO operations such as the Enhanced Forward Presence assistance mission in Lithuania or the mission in Kosovo. Several soldiers fell ill there – also from the Bundeswehr – to Covid-19.
The military also lacked concepts for military support. Instead, members went it alone. Military aid flights or transports of corona patients are an example. The machines could only fly over Europe in a simplified procedure with a uniform NATO call design after long confusion – without individual permits.
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Stoltenberg wants to prepare similar simplifications for a second corona wave. The Secretary General has in mind the joint procurement of protective materials and medicines via the “Nato Suport and Procurement Agency” (NSPA). Commander-in-Chief Wolters should not only present a strategic assessment in the next few weeks, but also a paper with “military response options”.
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According to information from SPIEGEL, NATO had initially considered only drawing up a comprehensive pandemic plan. However, because this takes longer and the military consider a second corona wave conceivable, an operational plan for this scenario should now be decided quickly. For the otherwise sluggish Allianz, the schedule for such a paper is very ambitious because, in which the members would also have to name their contributions, it is very ambitious.
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The operational plan is still in the early stages. According to NATO diplomats, logistics, transport routes or the establishment of field hospitals for Covid-19 patients should be the focus. To activate it in the event of a second wave, all that would be needed was a decision by the North Atlantic Council.
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Internally, Secretary General Stoltenberg has presented a kind of eight-point plan of what the military should work out over the next few weeks. Almost all wishes concern better cooperation among NATO partners, simplified procedures for military support services – but also standardization in civil disaster protection. There are many different concepts for him in Europe alone.
Stoltenberg’s activities illustrate that the Secretary General does not see the corona crisis as just a medical problem. Similar to that EU The NATO chief must also fear that going it alone by individual member states or the harsh accusations by the US president Donald Trump undermine the cohesion of the alliance.
Diplomats are already watching with concern that opponents of the Alliance like China or Russia try to take advantage of NATO’s turmoil. So At the beginning of the crisis, Beijing and Moscow sent help unbureaucratically to Italy or Luxembourg. The government’s internal papers state soberly that NATO and the EU did not look good in this phase, as they had taken their aid far too long for them.
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NATO meeting in December 2019: economic downturn could endanger military clout
Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS
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