EU needs to learn the 'language of power', incoming chief says

The European Union can no longer rely on soft power to promote its interests and must develop more security "muscle" and policy focus on trade, incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

In a speech on the state of Europe, von der Leyen stressed the EU’s strengths as a bastion of openness and democracy in a troubled world and said Brexit had forged a tighter group out of the remaining members of the bloc.

“We must go our own European way with confidence,” she said in Berlin. But she added: “Soft power alone won’t suffice today if we Europeans want to assert ourselves in the world. Europe must also learn the language of power.”

Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-commission-von-der-leyen/eu-needs-to-learn-the-language-of-power-incoming-chief-says-idUKKBN1XI2BM

France: Macron hails common European defence on Bastille day

Bastille Day: Macron hails common European defence in July 14 message 

Read full report at: 

https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/14/bastille-day-macron-hails-european-defence-in-july-14-address

The Digest Group
Almere-Digest
EU-Digest
Insure-Digest 
Turkish-Digest 

For additional information, including advertising rates - e-mail:Freeplanet@protonmail.com

European Defense Force: European army may march on immediate and future threats - by Carl Bildt

After French president Emmanuel Macron recently proposed the idea, US president Donald Trump disparaged it (in a tweet, of course), but German chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed it (while urging caution).

The issue came to the fore this month with the centennial of the end of the First World War, which naturally focused Europeans’ attention on matters of war and peace. While touring the war battlefields, Macron observed that “peace in Europe is precarious”, and that “we will not protect Europeans unless we decide to have a true European army”.

The goal of establishing a European army dates back to the earliest stages of European integration after the Second World War.

In 1954, the French parliament refused to ratify a treaty that would have established a European Defence Community and joint military force comprising West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Although the US has expanded its military capabilities in Europe in recent years, it has previously regarded the continent primarily as a platform for operations in other theaters. And now that Trump has cast doubt on America’s commitment to defend Europe, renewed proposals for a European army should come as no surprise.

Read more: European army may march on immediate and future threats | Irish Examiner