The European Union should form its own combined army that could play a role in peacekeeping and conflict prevention, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Tajani said that closer European cooperation in the field of defense is a priority for the Forza Italia party he leads.
“If we want to be peacekeepers in the world, we need a European army. And that is the basic prerequisite for us to have an effective European foreign policy,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.
“In a world with powerful players like the United States, China, India, Russia – with crises from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific – citizens of Italy, Germany, France or Slovenia can only be protected by something that already exists, i.e. the European Union,” he added.
European defense cooperation has risen on the political agenda since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
However, efforts have been more focused on NATO enlargement, with EU member Finland joining the alliance last year and Sweden also on track to become a member.
Tajani also said the 27-member EU should streamline its leadership and have a single presidency, rather than the current structure of the president of the European Council and president of the European Commission.
The foreign minister became the leader of Forza Italia after the death of Silvio Berlusconi last year, Fena news agency reported.
