Prime Minister Rutte informs the world: the Netherlands is against the European army

At his weekly press conference, Prime Minister Rutte gave an explicit signal: the Netherlands is against a European army, as France and Germany want.

He feels absolutely nothing about the conclusions of French President Macron and French President German Chancellor Merkel. "Europe can not defend itself for the moment, it is unthinkable, these are reckless proposals."

Rutte not only thinks that Macron and Merkel are ahead of the troops, he also thinks that they wrongly give the impression that Europe does the United States can.

Security

"The discussion is not just about sovereignty of countries or other basic ideas," said Rutte. "It's also about NATO and its cooperation with the United States, which brought us a lot of security after the Second World War."

Rutte said that the security policy of Europe depends on NATO. "We have to be realistic because the brexit represents 80% of NATO's capacity from outside the EU."

Last night, the Minister of Defense, Bijleveld, had already stated that the Netherlands did not want a European army and that NATO found it essential.