Germany's Merkel calls for establishment of EU army

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called for creating a European Union army, stressing that Europeans can no longer merely rely on the U.S. for their security.

“We Europeans now have to really take our faith fully into our own hands if we want to defend our union,” Merkel said addressing the European Parliament.

She called on member states to take steps to make the EU a strong actor in international politics, and argued that this also necessitates developing joint military structures in the long-term.

“If we look at the developments of the past years, we have to work on the vision of creating a real European army one day,” Merkel said.

The German Chancellor argued that creating an EU army would also be important for the peace within the continent.

“As Jean-Claude Juncker said some years ago, a common European army would show the world that there will never again be war in Europe," she said, referring to the comments of the European Commission president, a strong advocate of creating an EU army.

As several European lawmakers booed her, Merkel stressed that the EU army was not an alternative to the NATO, the West's main defense alliance.

“It would not be an army against NATO, of course not. We can be a good supplement to NATO,” Merkel added.