Europe on right path to manage security challenges: German defence minister

Europe is on the right path towards addressing the arduous security challenges it faces, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said here on Friday.

"This is the pivotal lesson from the common European history and our common European spirit. We should not choose between security and humanity in times of the most difficult challenges, but we should pick a path that merges both of these aspects," said von der Leyen at the GLOBSEC 2016 international security conference in Bratislava.

European countries demonstrate it in various forms of cooperation in international organisations or special coalitions, for example, when fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq and when searching for political solutions to conflicts.

"The fate of the Middle East is closely linked to our destiny as well. The migration crisis attests to this fact every day," emphasised von der Leyen.

The number of refugees searching for a safe haven in Europe is comparable to the number of refugees in Europe after WWII.

"Then as well as now refugees are coming here for just one reason -- the basic desire of a human for freedom, peace and security," stated von der Leyen.

She said that the real problem isn't the migration crisis itself, but the primary causes of it -- civil war and terrorism.

"If we'd be able to strike an agreement in terms of protection of EU's external borders, admission of refugees and cooperation to restore peace in the Middle East, it would've been the hardest blow to the face of IS," asserted von der Leyen, who was one of the keynote speakers at GLOBSEC conference.

The list of GLOBSEC guests features several presidents, prime ministers, defence and foreign affairs ministers, as well as foreign policy and security experts. Endit