French President Emmanuel Macron proposes creation of 'Real European Army'

  06 November 2018    Read: 1054
French President Emmanuel Macron proposes creation of

French President Emmanuel Macron gave a candid interview to the French radio Europe 1, in which he spoke about school violence, European elections, and the EU's military policy.

Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the EU should create a "real European army" and called the bloc the main victim of Washington's decision to scrap a 30-year-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

"We will not be able to protect Europeans if we don't decide to have a real European army," he told Europe 1's Nikos Aliagas, insiting that Europe should be defending itself in a "more souvereing way," without depending "only on the United States."

Macron called for "protection from China, Russia, and even from the United States of America," suggesting that Donald Trump's recent decision to pull the US from the INF Treaty would endanger European security.

US President Trump announced on October 20 that the United States would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), claiming that Russia had violated the agreement, which prohibited ground-based intermediate-range systems. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted Trump's accusations and warned that Russia would be forced to take measures to ensure its security if Washington started developing weapons that had been banned under the agreement.

The French President also called for a "stronger, protective Europe," as well as bemoaned that the continent is becoming "increasingly fractured" and that nationalism is on the rise these days.

This mirrors his November 1 interviewto Ouest-France newspaper, in which he warned that the resurgence of nationalism across Europe may eventually plunge the region into a situation similar to that which arose in the 1930s. He also insisted that both nationalism and the influence of foreign powers pose a threat to Europe’s sovereignty, adding


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