(Adnkronos) – Ukraine’s security depends on the creation of a European military force, as well as “a solid transatlantic relationship” and support for a Nato presence in the war-shattered country, Italy argued on Tuesday.
“If we want to guarantee Ukraine’s security, that of its eastern border and the whole of Europe, we must do more as Europeans,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani told public radio Rai’s ‘Anch’io’ programme.
“Our objective must be a single defence and a single army. However we must continue to have a solid transatlantic relationship and therefore support the presence of a Nato that has an American and a European pillar,” Tajani said.
“Europe’s future security cannot be envisaged without an agreement with the United States,” he underlined.
Emergency talks on Ukraine held by European Union leaders in Paris on Monday were “exploratory, an exchange of ideas between some European leaders, not all 27 were there,” Tajani noted.
“Defence was discussed and I think it is right to continue doing so,” he argued.
At their talks in Paris on Monday, EU leaders called for higher spending to strengthen the continent’s defence capabilities but remained split over deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine.
A Ukraine ceasefire without a simultaneous peace accord could be dangerous, the EU leaders agreed. European leaders said they were willing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine depending on the level of American support, European officials were quoted as saying.
