Munich, 08/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - In his speech at the annual conference on security in Munich on 4 February, the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, expressed the hope that the EU would “grow in partnership with NATO as a major security actor” (also see EUROPE 9126). He went on to add: “We must build a true strategic partnership between NATO and the EU. I will work hard to help make that happen as soon as possible”. During the discussion, however, he complained that NATO-EU relations in Brussels were “not going well”, as the refusal to discuss terrorism at the joint EU-NAATO meeting had demonstrated, as well as the impossibility of putting other issues on the table because of Cyprus and Malta. He did not understand why NATO and the EU are not discussing the NATO Response Force and EU battlegroups (Source: our publication Atlantic News.