NATO warns of move that could weaken alliance, divide Europe

SANAA, Sept. 05 (YPA) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that the creation of a joint armed forces of the European Union could divide Europe and weaken NATO.

“I welcome European efforts in the field of defense guarantee, but something similar will not replace NATO,”In addition, it is necessary to ensure that Europe and North America stand by each other. Any attempt to weaken the connection of North America and Europe will lead not only to the weakening of NATO, but also to the division of Europe. And that’s partly because of the money, because 80% of our defense costs come from our non-EU allies,” Stoltenberg said in his interview with the “Sandy Telegraph” newspaper, which was published on Saturday evening on the newspaper’s website.

He pointed out that European countries that are not members of the European Union (Britain, Iceland and Norway), as well as the United States, Canada and Turkey, play a central role in ensuring European security.

He added: “Any attempt to create parallel structures and duplicate the command system will only weaken our joint ability to deal, because in conditions of limited resources we must avoid parallels and duplication of efforts. The proposal (on the creation of European Union forces) was not discussed with NATO, and we did not know any details in this regard.”