Andrés Muñoz, director of Legal Consultancy Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) visited the Catholic University of Murcia, where he was received by the president of UCAM, José Luis Mendoza, the vice-rector of International Relations and Communication, Pablo Blesa Aleda, and the auditor captain Juan Carlos de la Cerra, director of the Master’s in Military Law at UCAM. During his visit, he gave a class in the module “European Studies” for the students in Bachelor’s in Law and for the students in Master’s in European Union and Human Rights.

There was another reason for his visit, as it serves as a preparatory for actions very relevant to UCAM: signing of agreement between UCAM and Nato to create a centre of excellence NATO on “legal resilience”; the visit of the students in Master’s in Military Law to the head quarter of NATO in Mons (Belgium) during may, as well as the granting of the Serge Lazareff - award to Pablo Blesa Aledo during the visit.

The Legal Consultant of SHAPE declared that “both institutions coincide in that they defend the same values, and that they give importance to the promotion of education and formation of the future european leaders”. As a consequence, Andrés Muñoz manifested during his visit the wish to introduce the centre of excellence at UCAM. This new concept by NATO is to be understood as the ability of a state and its infrastructures to detect, prevent, and if necessary, to resist, manage and recover, from a disruptive challenge, even from an angle strictly legal.

Regarding the visit of the students to the head quarters, this collaboration goes years back when the Master’s in Military Law added “Derecho Atlántico” (Atlantic Law) to the Curriculum. The Master’s director, Juan Carlos de la Cerra, declared that the future agreement with NATO opens an array of opportunities to the students in Master’s in European Union and Human Rights, Master’s in Spanish Military Law, and to the future students in Master’s in International Criminal Law (starting in Spanish the next year). The benefits gained from the visit is the exchange of the students and professors, and the participation in activities of other international institutions.

Therefore, this agreement will facilitate the visits made by these master’s students to the head quarter of NATO in Mons (Belgium). For the third year, the master’s students are going to visit the NATO installations during the first week of may. At NATO, they will be taught important things in areas such as logistics, special operations, intelligence and legal consultancy in the different international missions of NATO.

As mentioned before, vice-rectorate of International Relations and Communication, Pablo Blesa Aledo, will receive the Serge Lazareff 2018, a prestigious award held by only eight Spanish people, given to worthy professionals who committed to the Allied values.