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Ursula von der Leyen claimed a legal framework now exists for a European Defence Union. The German Defence Minister also discussed developing a structure that tells Europeans when to use their “forces”. Speaking on Uncut with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Ms von der Leyen declared: “The structures that have been ‘sleeping’ for a long time inside the Treaty of Lisbon - now we have activated them. “That means we now have a legal framework for a European Defence Union, we have a joint planning process, so that as Europeans we can also develop a structure that tells us when we are going to use our forces.”

The German politician also spoke about building a “security structure”. She said: “We must become more European. “I see many areas where NATO is not in demand, for example, the whole Africa topic. “Here the European Union is very much in demand. Because NATO has been existing for decades, we haven’t built a security structure for a European Defence Union worthy of the name.

We must become more European Ursula von der Leyen

“In the last one and a half years we have tackled this and we have taken a big step forward.” The Permanent Structured Co-operatio (PESCO) - a European army in all but name - received the official blessing of heads of state and government who joined to toast its success in December. There are also plans for enhanced joint training programmes, a European medical command and projects relating to logistics such as the streamlining of cross-border military transport procedures. Key EU member states, including France and Germany, have long-campaigned for greater defence and security integration.

EU Army: the German Defence Minister discussed