European security

European army? EU chief Von der Leyen says bloc must ‘flex its muscles’

INCOMING EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, has set alarm bells ringing with a bullish speech in which she suggested the bloc was ready to ditch “soft power” and flex its “muscles” in a bid to “asset itself on the world”.
She also took a potshot at Emmanuel Macron after the France’s President vetoed accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia last month, insisting the EU must “honour its word”. In a speech on the state of Europe delivered in Berlin, European Commission President-elect Mrs von der Leyen stressed the EU's strengths as a bastion of openness and democracy in a troubled world and said Brexit had forged a tighter group out of the remaining members of the bloc. She added: "We must go our own European way with confidence.