The European “rapid reaction force”, mentioned yesterday by French President Emmanuel Macron and intended for operations such as the evacuation of citizens from countries in crisis, may see the light of day as early as next year, the French Minister of Armed Forces said powers Sebastien Lecorneu, quoted by France Press, writes BTA.
„This is a key issue on which I hope we will be able to reach a conclusion already next year, being very responsive and very fast,”, said Lecorneux in an interview with the "France 2" television.
The minister justified this project with the fact that there are “many crises in which NATO is not competent and in which France often conducts operations alone”, giving the example of the evacuation of citizens from Sudan last year.
During the Khartoum operation, 1,000 people of 1,080 nationalities were evacuated, of which 200-250 were French. In doing so, "we created a big air bridge with (Airbus planes) A400M, with ships. It so happened that France was practically alone," Lecorneu emphasized.
It is quite natural that this burden, which “has a price, a value”, should be shared, said the French minister.
These rapid reaction forces, “to ensure the safety of European citizens, Portuguese, Italian, German and French citizens, must be able to be created very quickly,”, he insisted, noting that their creation is a matter of pragmatism.
Yesterday, French President Macron set out his vision for Europe, focusing mainly on defense and economic and trade policies, after taking stock of what the European Union has done since 2017.