Merkel backs Macron's European defense force plan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel
(Image credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed French President Emmanuel Macron's idea for a joint European defense force in a long Sunday interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "I am in favor of President Macron's proposal for an intervention initiative," she said. "With this, we will already develop more European unity. This will need to be complemented by joint strategic action in [military] deployment."

Merkel also called for European cooperation on migration and asylum programs. She endorsed development of "common asylum standards, a European border police force, and a pan-European migration agency that could evaluate asylum applications," in Reuters' summary. Nations unwilling to accept refugees would have a "flexible" option to help address the migrant crisis in other ways.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.