OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA
The Portuguese Minister of Defense and president of the CDS-PP, Nuno Melo.
Nuno Melo states that he has been against the creation of a European army since the time he was an MEP and defends the strengthening of NATO.
The Minister of National Defense, Nuno Melo, spoke out against the creation of a European army and argued that it makes sense to continue looking at NATO as Europe’s main defensive front.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), “as an organization of deterrence and defense, has fulfilled its role very well“, defended Melo, in an interview with Jornal de Notícias and TSF radio.
“And it has fulfilled its role very well also because of this Atlanticist option, bringing together one side of the Atlantic and the other, with the United States of America [EUA] in the equation”, highlighted the minister.
“One European defense is not equally effective with or without the United States”, argued Melo.
The minister downplayed tensions between European NATO members and the US administrationled by President Donald Trump, who has threatened to leave the organization on several occasions.
“I do not confuse the administration of a country with that country and its people. administrations are transitional“, highlighted Melo.
“The European continental space (…) has never had so much permanent peace, as we have measured since the end of the Second World War, also because of NATO”, said the minister, excluding the conflict in Ukraine.
On May 12, Nuno Melo had spoken out against the creation of a European army, stressing that the important thing is reinforce the European Defense pillar in NATO and invest in the national Armed Forces.
“I tend to be against the idea of a European army, which does not invalidate the fact that within the European Union (EU) and in the European context, we should not articulate what are fundamental aspects of a common Defense”, said Melo in statements to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of EU Defense Ministers in Brussels.
The Minister of Defense said that his opposition to a European army is an “old positionwhich has been in the European Parliament for many years and does not change within the Government”.
“I understand that we must reinforce what is NATO’s European defense pillar, which goes through provide better conditions for our soldiersfor modernizing and improving infrastructure and equipment, for being up to the missions asked of us inside and outside, which is something different from a European army”, he stated.
The Spanish Government has defended the creation of a European army, stating that this must be done immediately“not in ten years”, as a way of preserving your freedom in a context of .
This idea has already been discarded by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, who considered it illusory, calling instead for the Armed Forces of European countries to be strengthened.
