EU Army: Britain official response disappointing for many states
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BRATISLAVA: (APP) Britain vowed Tuesday to oppose any attempt to create an "EU army" following the Brexit vote, although the head of NATO denied that European defence cooperation would undermine the transatlantic alliance.
The row broke out as European Union defence ministers met in Bratislava to discuss ways of boosting defence cooperation, one of the priorities set when the bloc's leaders met without Britain earlier this month.
Arriving for the talks, British defence minister Michael Fallon said NATO -- which shares 22 of its 28 members with the EU -- had to remain a "cornerstone of our defence and the defence of Europe".
"We are going to continue to oppose any idea of an EU army or an EU army headquarters which would simply undermine NATO," Fallon told reporters in the Slovakian capital.
Asked whether Britain could veto the plans in the estimated two-plus years before it formally leaves the EU, Fallon replied: "There is no majority here for a EU army.
"There are a number of other countries who believe with us that cuts across the sovereignty of individual nation states."
But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared to contradict Fallon's claims.
"There is no contradiction between strong European defence and strong NATO, actually it reinforces each other," said Stoltenberg, who was also attending Tuesday's meeting of the EU ministers.
He did however say it was "important to avoid duplication" and that there should be "complementarity" between EU and NATO.
