![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/311000_312000/311613_chernoe_more___new_80x50_0.webp)
Italian Foreign Minister calls for EU army
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said that the European Union should form its own unified army, which could play a role in peacekeeping and conflict prevention
Reuters reported the information.
Tajani emphasized that closer European defense cooperation is a priority for the Forza Italia party he leads.
"If we want to be peacekeepers in the world, we need a European military. And this is a fundamental precondition to be able to have an effective European foreign policy," he said in an interview published on Sunday. "In a world with powerful players like the United States, China, India, Russia - with crises from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific - Italian, German, French or Slovenian citizens can only be protected by something that already exists, namely the European Union," he added.
Almost two years ago, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European defense cooperation rose to the political agenda.
Tajani also said the 27-nation EU should streamline its leadership and have a single presidency, rather than the current structure of a European Council president and a European Commission president.
- On January 1, Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Pier Francesco Zazo became the head of the G7 ambassadors' group to support Ukraine for 2024.
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/346000_347000/346693_Karta_Pokrovsxk-Torecxk_lipenx_2407_eng_new_300x170_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/313000_314000/313637_GettyImages-1390327377_new_300x170_0.webp)
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/184000_185000/184356_photo_2021-04-14_20-59-44_new_300x170_0.webp)
- News
![](https://static.espreso.tv/uploads/photobank/328000_329000/328593_GettyImages-1468921404_new_80x50_0.webp)