TIMES ONLINE: Italy is to push for the creation of a European Army after the "new Europe" takes shape at this week's crucial EU summit following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.
Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, said that the Lisbon Treaty had established "that if some countries want to enter into reinforced co-operation between themselves they can do so". This was already the case with the euro and the Schengen accords on frontier-free travel, and could now be applied to "common European defence".
In an interview with The Times at his office in the monumental marble-halled Foreign Ministry on the banks of the Tiber, Mr Frattini said: "We have finally concluded a never-ending story". The Lisbon Treaty, which comes into force in December, will be sealed on Thursday with an EU summit to choose an EU President and Foreign Minister.
He warned that "if we do not find a common foreign policy, there is the risk that Europe will become irrelevant. We will be bypassed by the G2 of America and China, which is to say the Pacific axis, and the Atlantic axis will be forgotten. We need political will and commitment, otherwise the people of Europe will be disillusioned and disappointed. People expect a great deal of us. After Lisbon we have no more alibis". >>> Richard Owen in Rome | Sunday, November 15, 2009
