Who is the Enemy? EC President Reportedly Wants to Form European Army

Sputnik News

09:11 08.03.2015(updated 18:35 08.03.2015)

A projected army will help the bloc fight external threats all over the world and show Russia the EU's serious approach to upholding its values.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker is advocating the creation of a Europe-wide army, Germany's Welt am Sonntag weekly reported Sunday.

'Such an army would help us to build a common foreign and security policy, as well as jointly assume the responsibilities of Europe in the world,' Juncker said in an interview.

A European army, according to the EC president, could 'react credibly' to dangers facing the 28-member bloc or its neighbors.

Juncker added that forming the European armed forces would signal to Russia the hitherto political and economic union is 'serious about upholding the values ​​of the European Union.'

Welt am Sonntag reports the EC head's proposal has found support in the German legislature, with chairman of its foreign affairs committee noting that time has come for the vision to materialize.

'The Europeans spend enormous sums of money for the military combined, much more than Russia. But our military capabilities remain an insufficient security policy as long as we maintain small national armies, which make and buy many parts of the same thing on a smaller scale,' Norbert Rottgen was quoted as saying.

Moscow, for its part, has on numerous occasions pointed to an unprecedented expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization toward Russia's western border.

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