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German Defense Minister calls for strengthening European defense collaboration

31 January 2014 23:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen called for further integration of European defense on Friday and said that Germany was prepared to take more responsibility, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The integration, under the concept of "Framework Nation", was "an European answer to an European problem", said von der Leyen in a speech in the Munich Security Conference.

She said due to financial crisis and elder demography, European Union members were cutting their defense budget and forced to stop major defense reforms. European countries focused too much on "national courtyard", instead of "the whole sector of European defense."

Von der Leyen said the so-called framework nations, big or small, would combine together, and work voluntarily for the joint development, capacity building, as well as collective training and exercises.

"I believe this approach has potential to strengthen both NATO and the European Union," she said, adding that Germany was ready to contribute as one of the framework nations and determined to to promote the concept to potential partners in the coming weeks and months.

"Germany is strong in Europe, but above all, Germany is strong because of Europe and the NATO. We will never ever forget this," said von der Leyen.

"Indifferences is not an option for Germany," she said, "As a major economy and a country of significant size, we have a strong interest in international peace and stability. Given these facts, the federal government is prepared to enhance our international responsibility."

The Defense Minister said Germany would remain engaged in the north of Afghanistan "to support Afghanistan on its own path towards stability and peace", and was willing to support the upcoming mission of the EU in the Central African Republic.