NATO and the European Union are partners in defence, not rivals, top officials said Thursday, downplaying any suggestion EU military ambitions might undermine the US-led alliance which has protected Europe for decades.
‘I strongly believe it is absolutely possible to strengthen European defence without duplicating efforts by NATO,’ alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
‘EU leaders have (also) conveyed that this is not about the EU doing collective defence, the EU building structures that would compete with NATO,’ Stoltenberg said after EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini met NATO defence ministers in Brussels.
Mogherini has drawn up a Global Strategy which says the EU …read more
Source: Gulf times