Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the European Union should create its own coalition force that could play a role in peacekeeping and conflict prevention.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Tajani said closer European cooperation in the field of defense was a priority for his party, Forza Italia.
“If we want to be a peacekeeping force in the world, we need a European military. And that is a fundamental prerequisite for us to have an effective European foreign policy,” he said in a statement published on Sunday. stated in an interview.
“In a world with powerful players like the United States, China, India and Russia, with crises from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific, the peoples of Italy, Germany, France and Slovenia can only be protected by what already exists. Not the European Union,” he added.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine about two years ago, European defense cooperation has emerged as a political issue.
But efforts are more focused on NATO expansion, with EU member Finland joining the alliance last year and Sweden also on track to join.
Tajani also said the 27-member EU should streamline its leadership and have a single presidency rather than the current system of president of the European Council and president of the European Commission.
According to news agency Fena, the foreign minister took over as leader of Forza Italia after Silvio Berlusconi died last year.