The previous Italian prime minister has referred to as on member states to step up army cooperation and improve protection spending
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi warns that the EU could be unable to defend itself if China determined to assault one in all its member states. The veteran politician urged Brussels to undertake a sturdy army technique and make investments closely in protection.
Berlusconi made the remarks in a video interview recorded on Friday by Sky TG24 information channel. He’s at the moment within the San Raffaele hospital in Milan and is being handled for leukemia, which was identified in early April.
The previous prime minister stated the EU is hardly a power to be reckoned with within the worldwide enviornment, and may China determine to “occupy Italy, and perhaps another European nation, we might completely not have the ability to counter it.”
“The most effective factor we might do could be to go to high school to check Chinese language,” he added.
To enhance its standing, Berlusconi stated, the EU must undertake a “single army coverage, with sturdy cooperation between the armed forces of all European nations.”
He additionally advocated a rise in protection spending and the institution of a 300,000-strong “emergency corps.”
Politically, Berlusconi stated he want to see a “actually united continent” – one thing which might be extra achievable if the bloc dropped its ‘unanimity precept’ in voting in favor of an 80-85% majority, he argued.
He went on to emphasize that the EU can and should play a larger function on the earth, together with standing as much as what Berlusconi described as “Chinese language imperialism.
Final month, Bloomberg reported that the present prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was contemplating withdrawing from China’s Belt and Highway infrastructure venture.
In response to sources cited within the article, nevertheless, there’s a lack of consensus on the matter inside the ruling coalition.
Talking in late March forward of her go to to China, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated that whereas “decoupling” from Beijing just isn’t within the EU’s pursuits, Brussels ought to grow to be “bolder” in its relations with China – which is rising “extra repressive at house and extra assertive overseas,” she added.
Commenting on Von der Leyen’s remarks, the Chinese language ambassador to the EU, Fu Cong, stated her message was incoherent and contradictory, whereas calling out the “misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Chinese language insurance policies and Chinese language positions,” and advising the European Fee chief to search out higher speechwriters.
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