Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said
Saturday that the European Union could copy the NATO model to
meet the need to have a collective defensive capacity given the
new international scenario.
He also reiterated that it is premature to talk about Italy's
involvement in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.
"It is totally absurd to talk now about an intervention of any
kind because you cannot decide what to do in Ukraine until you
have conditions of peace, which we or Europe do not define,"
Crosetto said in a speech as a guest at the congress of the
centrist, opposition Azione party.
"At this stage we should concentrate on the sum of European
defences, on building national defences, and start discussing
and figuring out how to work together.
"We have a template, which is NATO. All you have to do is copy
that.
"Furthermore, in the coming years we'll need a UN that can take
back control of its destiny, which it has lost in recent years.
"The Germans removed the constraint on defence investments by
changing the Constitution in two days".
He added that he expects NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to
set European countries the target of lifting defence spending to
3.5% of GDP at June's summit of the alliance's members, while US
President Donald Trump has requested it be lifted to 5%.
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