German Chancellor Angela Merkel has thrown her weight behind the creation of a European army, telling the European Parliament on 13 November that “the times when we could rely on others are past”. Matching her rhetoric to that of French President Emmanuel Macron a week earlier, she added, “We have to take our fate fully into our own hands.”
She also implicitly raised the prospect of harmonised military requirements and a European-wide defence procurement approach in future, saying that Europe needed “a common development of armaments systems”.
“It would be a lot easier to co-operate among ourselves [but not] with 160 different weapon systems [while] the US has only 50 or 60,” she said.
Want to read more? For analysis on this article and access to all our insight content, please enquire about our subscription options atihsmarkit.com/janes
Cyber security is a top-tier threat for the United Kingdom, but national intelligence and law enforcement agencies face a 'cyber skills gap' when it comes to recruiting and retaining specialist staff. Matthew Redhead assesses the UK agencies' efforts to build a new 'Generation Cyber'
