Europe’s biggest military powers can’t defend it from external threats and the protection of the region can’t be “outsourced,” EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker said. His remarks come after Donald Trump called on the bloc to contribute its “fair share” to defense.
“War is anchored in Europe’s history. The memories of terror and bloodshed are still all too vivid for many people in this country and in all of Europe,” European Commission chief Juncker said at the Defense and Security Conference in Prague.
According to the EC president, Europe doesn’t have “to look much further than our doorstep to see that war is not a thing of the past.”
“The protection of Europe can no longer be outsourced. Even our biggest military powers — and I could count them on one, maximum two, fingers — cannot combat all the challenges and threats alone,” he added.
Speaking about the US, one of the EU’s strongest allies, Juncker said that Washington had “fundamentally changed” its foreign policy long before President Trump took office.
“Over the past decade it has become crystal clear that our American partners consider that they are shouldering too much of the burden for their wealthy European allies. We have no other choice than to defend our own interests in the Middle East, in climate change, in our trade agreements,” he said.
According to Juncker, NATO has been and will remain the “cornerstone of European security for decades.”