(Adnkronos) – Those who don’t support a European defence to ensure the continent’s security are not true ‘Europeanists’, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani told a press conference at the lower house of parliament on Friday.
“If you are against a European defence, you are not Europeanist enough, because you cannot pick and choose,” Tajani said.
“If you are pro-European you also support a single European defence,” Tajani said.
A joint statement by all 27 European Union member states on Thursday backed an 800 billion euro European Commission plan to rearm Europe. The EU leaders also voiced support for embattled Ukraine, but that statement was agreed without Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, who like the US president is also cultivating ties with Moscow.
Trump earlier this week announced his administration was halting all military aid to Ukraine amid the more-than-three-year-old Russian invasion and continues to warn Europe it must ratchet up its defence spending.
