EU could copy NATO model for its defence says Crosetto

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 29 - Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Saturday that the European Union could copy the NATO model to meet the need to have a collective defensive capacity given the new international scenario.
    He also reiterated that it is premature to talk about Italy's involvement in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.
    "It is totally absurd to talk now about an intervention of any kind because you cannot decide what to do in Ukraine until you have conditions of peace, which we or Europe do not define," Crosetto said in a speech as a guest at the congress of the centrist, opposition Azione party.
    "At this stage we should concentrate on the sum of European defences, on building national defences, and start discussing and figuring out how to work together.
    "We have a template, which is NATO. All you have to do is copy that.
    "Furthermore, in the coming years we'll need a UN that can take back control of its destiny, which it has lost in recent years.
    "The Germans removed the constraint on defence investments by changing the Constitution in two days".
    He added that he expects NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to set European countries the target of lifting defence spending to 3.5% of GDP at June's summit of the alliance's members, while US President Donald Trump has requested it be lifted to 5%. (ANSA).