EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas 'can't imagine' a European army outside of NATO
A European Union armed forces separate from NATO is inconceivable, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday.
Kallas made her remarks following calls, including from European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, for a unified European force.
"Every European country has an army, and 23 countries' armies are also part of NATO's structure, so I can't imagine that countries will create a separate European army. So it has to be the armies which already exist, so we need to see how that works in practice," she said ahead of a Foreign Affairs Council meeting which she chaired.
"It is understandable that in the military, you have to have a very understandable chain of command so that when something happens it's clear who gives orders to whom. If we create parallel structures, then it is just going to blur the picture," she added.
Kallas was Estonian prime minister 2021-2024.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had earlier this week dismissed calls from some leading European politicians for a separate European army, calls sparked by doubts over Donald Trump's commitment to the continent's security in the light of the recent heightened tensions over Greenland.
Speaking to the European Parliament in Brussels, Rutte said European nations should indeed step up to the plate on their own security, as U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded, but within the NATO structure. A separate European army would play into Russian leader Vladimir Putin's hands, Rutte went on, as it would spread Europe's armed forces' capabilities more thinly.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots
Source: Reuters
