Europe Needs Joint Defense Strategy to Confront Terrorism - EU Lawmaker

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Europe needs to develop common defense strategy in line with its foreign policy and to create joint military forces to be able to counteract terrorism which can be defeated only by joint efforts, Hilde Vautmans, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defence, told Sputnik.

"We need a common European approach because we don't have a European defence strategy to back up our Foreign Affairs policy. We need integrated military forces and we have to fight for this," Vautmans said, expressing her point of view on necessary measures for fight terrorism.

Vautmans highlighted that the EU countries had to significantly strengthen security measures following a series of terrorist attacks, with her remark coming shortly after the Monday blast in St. Petersburg underground, which left 14 people dead.

"I think it's terrible what happened [in St. Petersburg]. My thoughts are with the victims and their families of this awful event… Only if we work together, we can win the fight against terrorism," Vautmans stressed.

She stressed the vital importance of joint efforts to defeat terrorism on the level of the European Union and whole world, adding that joint military forces were an effective solution for Europe, especially in light of defense budget cuts at national levels as military systems were considered costly and an easy way to reduce expenses.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would continue its tough fight against terrorism stressing that "no country in the world has so far been able to defeat terrorism on its own." He added that Russia could turn to other states for help in investigating the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg metro.

On November 14, 2016, the European Union agreed on a new EU security and defense plan, which excluded the creation of an EU army. On November 30, the European Commission proposed the creation of a new defense fund for military procurement and collaborative research as part of a wider EU defense strategy. The EU member states would also be able to borrow from the fund to buy military technology and equipment for their national armies.