The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi trainee reporter Zhu Runyu
On October 31, local time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the Group of 20 (G20) leaders' summit that the plan to form a "European army" could not be realized.
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency reported on November 1, Erdogan believes that the reason the plan is not achievable is that "many EU countries are also members of NATO, and NATO does not support the idea of EU countries forming a joint army, so this idea is not realistic." ”
In November 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the formation of a "european coalition army" that would allow European countries to better protect themselves and meet global challenges, rather than relying on the United States. In response, then-US President Trump said, "French President Macron proposed to establish Europe's own military power in order to avoid aggression from the United States and Russia." But Europe should first make up the costs owed to NATO, most of which are financed by the United States. ”
At the time, Trump's remarks strained relations between the United States and other NATO members. At the same time, the United States "kicked" turkey out of the F-35 fighter development plan because Turkey purchased Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Subsequently, the relations between Turkey and the United States fell to a freezing point.
In September, the European Council announced that it would produce a first draft on the establishment of the EU's first rapid reaction force around November, and the final draft of the plan would be published in early 2022. In response, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg responded. "I welcome more efforts by Europe in the area of defense, but this will never replace NATO, and we need to make sure that Europe and North America are united."
However, Nabila Massrali, a spokesman for EU foreign affairs and security policy, said in October that the EU was not currently considering forming a joint army. Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's "Brexit Party", also believes that it is difficult to form an EU army. "I don't think the EU forces are going to work, and these countries are not ready for that."
Editor-in-Charge: Li Yiqing
Proofreader: Luan Meng