Europe should rearm against background of new threats, - Pistorius
Europe needs to take care of better defense capabilities due to the fact that new military threats may appear before the end of the decade.
This was stated by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Censor.NET informs with reference to Reuters.
Russia has significantly increased its weapons production to continue its invasion of Ukraine, and it is also threatening the Baltic states, Georgia, and Moldova, Pistorius said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
Meanwhile, the United States is likely to reduce its military presence in Europe as it begins to pay more attention to the Indo-Pacific region.
"We Europeans should be more involved in achieving security on our own continent," Pistorius said, noting, however, that the region will need time to increase its weapons production.
"We have about 5-8 years to catch up, from the point of view of the armed forces, industry, and society," he added.
According to him, Europe realizes that it may have to compensate for a potential reduction in American aid to Ukraine if Washington cannot agree on new funding.
The election of a more European-friendly government in Poland should now allow the Weimar Triangle - Berlin, Paris, and Warsaw - to further develop military cooperation, Pistorius believes.
"We have to figure out how best to position ourselves on the eastern flank based on NATO's defense plans," he said, noting that he wants to visit Poland as soon as possible next year.
Pistorius does not yet foresee that the German army will repeat the similar large-scale missions it carried out in Afghanistan and Mali.
"But small missions, in particular, in the field of military consulting or cooperation with countries that do not necessarily share our values, will be important.
The alternative would be to stop any contacts with these countries and simply hand them over to the Russians and Chinese, which would be much more dangerous," he said.
