Top diplomat proposes EU military doctrine

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned the bloc that it must agree an ambitious doctrine as the basis for joint military action abroad, including with a deployable crisis force.

Borrell told reporters his 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 - was crucial to security.

"Europe is in danger," Borrell said in the forewordof the full strategy document that has been sent to the EU's 27 states for debate. "We need to have rapid deployment capabilities," he also told reporters.

One idea is to have a 5,000-strong EU crisis force, Borrell said, stressing though that the U.S.-led NATO alliance remains primarily responsible for Europe's collective defence, Reuters reported.

"We have a strategic responsibility. Citizens want to be protected. Soft power is not enough," Borrell said of the economically powerful EU, the world's largest trade bloc.

But despite progress on building a common defence fund to develop weapons together since late 2017, the EU has yet to deploy its battalion-sized battlegroups in a crisis.

"All the threats we face are intensifying and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining," Borrell said in the foreword to the draft.