Vienna [Austria], October 20: The presidents of Germany and Austria have issued a joint appeal for a more self-confident and militarily stronger Europe.
"If we stand idly by or remain stuck in the past, the fire of the European idea threatens to be extinguished in the storm," warned German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen in a statement published in the Austrian Kronen Zeitung newspaper on Sunday.
The presidents described Russia's attack on Ukraine and doubts about the viability of the trans-Atlantic security architecture as a "double epochal break" for Europe.
"In the geopolitical turning point we are experiencing, Europe must reinvent itself," they wrote. The pair called for European countries to credibly strengthen their defence capabilities and deterrence, and build a more active foreign policy. Every EU member state must now decide whether it is for or against Europe and the principle of liberal democracy, they wrote. "Those who feel closer to autocracies are destroying the EU from within," Steinmeier and Van der Bellen warned. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune
