Germany calls for European defence union within next 10 years
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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, speaking before a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, called on his country and all of Europe to take on a greater international security role in light of evolving relations with the United States.
World leaders have gathered in southern Germany on Friday for the 56th iteration of the annual conference on international security policy.
“For too long, we Europeans have shut our eyes to the uncomfortable reality of what a withdrawal of the US from military engagement and from international treaties means for us,” Maas said, opening a discussion on the changing nature of the international order.
Mass called for the “construction of a European security and defense union as a strong, European pillar of NATO.”
Responding to an offer made earlier this week by French President Emmanuel Macron, he also said that Germany is prepared to discuss a European strategy related to France’s nuclear weapon arsenal.
Macron will speak at the conference on Saturday.
Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said he was “deeply troubled” by the “unforgivable failure” of the international community in the Syria conflict, and said he regretted the failure of the Libya peace plan recently secured in Berlin.
“We have more crises, more serious crises, more horrific events than one can actually imagine,” he said.
