Merkel threw her support behind the idea in an address to the European Parliament | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images Merkel joins Macron in calling for EU army to complement NATO Trump, still furious after weekend in Paris, blasts French president and EU on Twitter.

STRASBOURG — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday endorsed the creation of an EU army, siding with French President Emmanuel Macron whose similar call in recent days drew a fusillade of wrathful tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Merkel threw her support behind the idea in an address to the European Parliament, part of a series of leaders' speeches on the future of Europe.

"Jean-Claude Juncker already said that a common European army would show the world that there would never again be war in Europe," Merkel said, referring to the European Commission president, who was in the Parliament chamber.

"This is not an army against NATO, it can be a good complement to NATO," Merkel said. At the same time, Merkel noted that Europe faces numerous logistical obstacles to greater military and defense integration, including too many different weapons systems — more than 150 by her count, compared to 50 or 60 in the U.S.

Still, she said it is imperative that the EU pursue such integration, echoing Macron's view that Europe could no longer count on the United States. And she said that the EU needs to invoke treaty provisions that allow decisions to be taken by a qualified majority of member countries, without the customary unanimity that often blocks security and defense initiatives.

“The times when we could rely on others are over," Merkel said. "This means nothing less than for us Europeans to take our destiny in our own hands if we want to survive as a Union. This means, in the long run, Europe has to become more capable to act. We have to reconsider our ways of deciding and to renounce the principle of unanimity where the European treaties allow and wherever this is necessary. I proposed a European security council, in which important decisions can be prepared faster."

"We have to create a European intervention unit with which Europe can act on the ground where necessary," Merkel continued. "We have taken major steps in the field of military cooperation, this is good and largely supported in this house. But I also have to say, seeing the developments of the recent years, that we have to work on a vision to establish a real European army one day.”

Her remarks were cheered and applauded, but also drew some loud boos from Euroskeptics. "I am really pleased about this," Merkel said in response to an initial round of boos. "I come from a parliament too, I won't be put off."

Brexiteer Nigel Farage replied to Merkel's address, saying her remarks made him even happier to be leaving.

"Many of my Euroskeptic colleagues have been booing this morning but they shouldn't be," he said. "The British should be cheering you, without you we would never have made it over the line with Brexit and I want to thank you very much for that."

He went on, adding sharp criticism of Merkel's policies on immigration. "We don't want to be part of an increasingly German-dominated European Union and we certainly don't want to pay the price for Mrs. Merkel's errors," Farage said, drawing some of his own boos. "Having heard you today and listening to senior French politicians over the last couple of days, for us leaving the European Union is now indeed a liberation. It's an empire, a militarized European Union."

Ryszard Legutko, a Polish member of the European Parliament, accused Merkel of being indistinguishable from socialist German politicians, including the former Parliament president, Martin Schulz.

“I can’t resist the feeling that 95 percent of what you said could have been said by Martin Schulz," Legutko said. "The EU has been hijacked by the left."

Trump started denouncing the idea of an EU army in a tweet on Friday night immediately upon landing in Paris for a weekend of ceremonies commemorating the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I. Trump said Macron's proposal for an EU army to protect against threats from Russia, China and even from the United States is "very insulting."

Macron, who made his comments in an interview several days earlier, was referring specifically to Trump's decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, and Trump's general skepticism of the traditional transatlantic alliances. In another interview, on CNN, which was broadcast on Sunday, Macron said that he agrees with Trump's demand for greater military spending by European allies, but that he wants European countries to build and buy their own hardware.

The weekend's events highlight Macron and Merkel being united in marking the awful bloodshed that eventually made European solidarity a political imperative, and a matter of basic survival for the Continent's citizens. And it also shows Macron successfully preventing Trump from becoming the center of attention and upending events, as the American has done at other leaders' gatherings, such as a NATO summit in the summer.

But Trump, in a series of furious tweets on Tuesday, made clear he is still seething at Macron. He snidely suggested that the French would be speaking German today if not for U.S. support during the two World Wars.

Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

In her speech at the European Parliament, Merkel repeatedly stressed European values. "Tolerance is the soul of Europe, it is an indispensable basic value for us Europeans," she said.

"Solidarity is a component of the European treaties," Merkel said. "It is a central feature of our values."

She also called the U.K.'s impending departure from the EU "a deep wound."

Merkel recently announced her decision not to seek reelection as chair of her political party, the Christian Democratic Union, making clear that her current term as chancellor, which ends in 2021, would be her last.

Philip Kaleta contributed reporting.