Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/vadimmmus
United States of Europe

EU Commission boss says 'European army' would show Russia we mean business

It would “convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union,” Juncker said.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHIEF Jean-Claude Juncker on Sunday called for the creation of an EU army in the wake of rising tensions with Russia.

Juncker said the force could help counter new threats beyond the bloc’s borders and defend European “values”, in an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“You would not create a European army to use it immediately,” he was quoted as saying.

“But a common army among the Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union.”

He said a joint EU force would also lead to more efficient spending on military equipment and drive further integration of the bloc’s 28 member states.

“Such an army would help us design a common foreign and security policy,” the former Luxembourg prime minister said, but added that the force should not challenge NATO’s defence role.

Europe’s image has suffered dramatically and also in terms of foreign policy, we don’t seem to be taken entirely seriously.

The proposal has already won some support from Germany.

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said last month that she was confident that “perhaps not my children but my grandchildren will have a United States of Europe” with its own military, news agency DPA reported.

Welt am Sonntag quoted the head of the German parliament’s foreign policy committee, Norbert Roettgen, as saying that an EU army “is a European vision whose time has come”.

The newspaper said that former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana would present a report tomorrow in Brussels entitled “More Union in European Defence” calling for a new European security strategy including military capability to intervene beyond EU borders.

- © AFP, 2015

Read: Pope Francis helps shed light on notorious 1970s murder

Read: Boko Haram declares allegiance to ISIS

Your Voice
Readers Comments
168
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.