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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the
sabotage of the Russia-to-Germany pipelines in the Baltic Sea
last September showed the need "to confront this new type of
threat".
"This is a task force where our experts from NATO and the
European Union will work hand-in-hand to identify key threats to
our critical infrastructure, to look at the strategic
vulnerabilities that we do have," she said in Brussels, speaking
alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Western and Russian officials have traded accusations over the
Nord Stream blasts, but officials in Sweden and Denmark
investigating the attack have not named any possible culprits.
Von der Leyen said the task force would initially come up with
proposals on transport, energy, digital and space
infrastructure.
Western officials say the Nord Stream attacks and sudden cutoffs
of gas from Russia since the start of Moscow's war in Ukraine
have highlighted how dependent many EU and NATO members are on
key infrastructure and Russian energy.
Stoltenberg, speaking just before meeting von der Leyen's
Commission to discuss security, said the task force would be
part of increased cooperation between NATO and the EU.
"Resilience and the protection of critical infrastructure are a
key part of our joint efforts, as we have seen both with
President Putin's weaponising of energy and ... the sabotage of
the North Stream pipelines," he said.
"We want to look together at how to make our critical
infrastructure, technology and supply chains more resilient to
potential threats and to take action to mitigate potential
vulnerabilities."
(Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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