PARIS, (APP/AFP): France and Germany are
preparing joint proposals for a “more active and more useful” European defence policy, the French defence ministry told AFP Friday.
The document, by French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his
German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen, will serve as a “basis for considering a relaunch of European defence”, the ministry said and comes ahead of a European Union summit to discuss plans to boost the bloc’s security and defence mechanisms.
The objective is to make European defence “more active and more
useful without substituting it for national defence bodies which remain, by
definition, the key to the security of EU member states,” a member of Le
Drian’s entourage said.