Europe won’t build a common army: Poland’s foreign minister

WARSAW

Europe should not plan to build its own common army, but instead strengthen its individual national armies, Poland’s foreign minister said Sunday.

Speaking with state-run TVP World, Radoslaw Sikorski said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal in Munich on Friday for a joint EU army will not happen.

“Europe should implement solutions that will strengthen national armies,” he stressed.

Sikorski said “one must be careful with the term ‘European army’ because people understand it differently. If you mean the unification of national armies by this, it will not happen," he said. "But I am an advocate of Europe, the European Union, developing its own defense capabilities," he added.

"If the US wants us to strengthen our defense, it should be a domestic component, a NATO component, but I am also thinking about the European component of the EU, EU subsidies for the arms industry in order to increase our production capabilities, but also EU forces worthy of their name," he said.

Sikorski added that the presence of Polish troops in Ukraine is out of the question, "because Poland's duty to NATO is to protect its eastern flank, i.e. its own territory."

US President Donald Trump's recent moves have raised concerns among European leaders that decisions on the war in Ukraine may be made without the participation of the European Union, and perhaps even without Kyiv.

Many are also expecting Trump to reduce US forces in Europe.

Last year, Sikorski called for EU sanctions on Russia and a 5,000-strong EU mechanized brigade. Poland is spending 4% of its GDP on defense. Sikorski said other NATO members had to catch up.