French FM calls for greater cooperation on European defence

SpaceWar.com reports: “Stronger European cooperation on defence would act as ‘a second life insurance policy’ alongside the NATO alliance, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Sunday.

In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Sejourne called for greater ‘standardisation of weapons systems on a European level’.

This did not mean having ‘competing standards’ within NATO but ‘strengthening the European pillar’ of the military alliance, Sejourne said.

‘The development of the European defence industry should not be a substitute, but a complement’ to NATO, the minister said.

‘We have to take out a second life insurance policy alongside NATO,’ he said.

Concerns over the United States’ commitment to NATO in the event of former president Donald Trump’s re-election this year have precipitated discussions over Europe’s military readiness.

Washington would remain a strong partner in defence, but Europe needed to develop its own ‘sovereignty and strategic autonomy’, the minister said…”

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