Merkel Urges EU to Establish Joint Army, Stand on Own Two Feet

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for the establishment of a joint European army as she reiterated her message that the continent can no longer rely on outside protection and needs to take its destiny into its own hands.

“We should also work on the vision of one day creating a genuine European army,” Merkel said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

“That isn’t an army directed against NATO -- it can be a good extension of NATO,” she added, amid heckling from some lawmakers. “Nobody wants classic ties to be called into question.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at jstearns2@bloomberg.net;Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Iain Rogers

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