The idea of setting up EU armed forces may be on agenda of the June summit, the European Commission’s press service told TASS on Monday.
The chief of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker came forward with a proposal for creating the EU’s own army in an interview to the German weekly Welt am Zontag.
“A common European Army would show the world that there will be no more wars among the EU countries. Such an army would enable us to conduct a foreign policy and a policy of security and to become aware of Europe’s responsibility in the world,” he said.
“In the nuclear age extra armies do not provide any additional security. But they surely can play a provocative role,” Klintsevich said, adding it was regrettable that such ideas had already met with some support.
He recalled that the idea of creating a European army had never occurred to anyone even in the years of the acute confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization.
“These days, when the Warsaw Treaty is long gone, for some reason there has developed a need for that,” he wondered.
“One should presume that a European army is seen as an addendum to NATO. And in this kind of situation Western politicians are not shy to accuse Russia of some aggressiveness,” Klintsevich said.
Earlier on Sunday German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen voiced support for the idea of creating a common EU army at some future date. She stated that peace in Europe currently relied on a firm platform and the EU member-states ever more often pooled efforts for various purposes, including the enforcement of a common security policy. “The idea of having a (common) European army, in my opinion, has a future,” she said.
