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BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering joining French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week in what could turn into an epic clash of competing world views with U.S. President Donald Trump. Merkel, who has been struggling to put together a government since a German election in September, had been expected to skip the annual gathering of leaders, CEOs, bankers and celebrities in the Swiss Alps for a third straight year. But after clinching a preliminary coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Friday, German officials said Merkel could travel...

The Irish government has been accused of selling out Irish neutrality. It comes as the European Council has adopted the decision to establish a European Union defense pact, known as PESCO. Portugal and Ireland are the latest countries to join the pact. However, Sinn Féin Member of the European Parliament, Matt Carthy, said there has been “zero public debate” on the issue. “Among the most ludicrous argument proponents asserted was that we needed to sell off Irish neutrality in order to show support for the EU and its values,” Carthy said. “Since when did increasing national defense budgets, creating new...

European Union member states on Monday moved ever closer toward establishing a defense union, after the European Council adopted the creation of a new European defense and security cooperation network known as PESCO. The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which was first set out in the Lisbon Treaty, will allow member states to jointly develop military capabilities, invest in shared projects and enhance their respective armed forces. […] On December 7, Portugal and Ireland announced their decision to join, taking the total number of contributing members up to 25. The countries that have chosen not to take part are Malta, Denmark...

Germany’s foreign minister on Tuesday urged Europe to define and defend its own interests, warning that Washington’s retreat from the world stage may continue even after Donald Trump’s presidency. “The current withdrawal of the US under Donald Trump from its role as the reliable guarantor of western multilateralism is accelerating a change in the world order and has direct consequences on the perception of German and European interests,” Sigmar Gabriel said. He said that the current US administration had taken an “extraordinary distance” from its traditionally close relationship with Europe, which it now increasingly viewed as a “competitor or economic...

The European Union is moving to lift barriers to the rapid deployment of the 28 nations’ armies to confront aggressors within Europe or abroad. Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, unveiling the plan Friday, said that “we need to be able to react effectively to internal and external crisis situations.” The aim is to upgrade infrastructure like bridges, roads and runways that can’t handle heavy military equipment and cut customs and administrative red tape, which cause delays, higher costs and leave Europe vulnerable to attack. …

… If anything, Germany’s claim to be an integrated member of the Western alliance has never been stronger. Some even speak of Germany as the West’s new leader. As Donald Trump’s America turns inward, possibly abandoning its free trade agenda and its longstanding commitment to democracy, Germany seems like a possible replacement. A poll taken in 2013 showed Germany to be the most admired country in the world; Chancellor Merkel is one of the most trusted public figures in Europe. Germany’s public commitment to environmentalism, multilateralism and human rights give Germany moral standing; Germany’s industrial strength and export clout have...

Angela Merkel’s main rival in the upcoming election opened up this week in an interview about the balance between freedom and security, as well as about what Europe’s military strategy should be. Six weeks before Germany’s national election in which Merkel will seek a fourth term, her main rival Martin Schulz is lagging behind in the polls. In the most recent survey at the end of July by Stern, RTL and Forsa Institute, Schulz sank to his lowest level of support since being nominated as the Social Democrats’ (SPD) chancellor candidate. Just 21 percent of respondents said that hypothetically speaking,...

In a statement, 60 year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to keep the armed forces fit for an ever more difficult task within the financial constraints imposed on it, but was no longer able to sustain that. "In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," he said. ... As well as being an early test for Macron, the departure of France's most senior soldier...

France and Germany agreed Thursday to begin work on a joint fighter jet, a major advance in their relations designed to underline their united front in the face of fracturing Western relations. Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday for a joint cabinet meeting between their governments. Among a host of measures agreed between their economy, culture and education ministers, the joint fighter jet proposal underscored their plans to create a new dynamic in the Franco-German motor at the heart of the European Union. […] Macron also won...

Germany Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel isn’t mincing his words. The pugnacious politician has called a NATO defense spending target being pushed by the US “completely unrealistic” for Germany. “I consider it completely unrealistic to think that Germany will achieve a defense budget of over €70 million per year,” said Gabriel on Friday. “I don’t know of a single German politician who believes that is either achievable or desirable,” he added. At a NATO summit in Wales in 2014, NATO members committed to working towards a goal of 2 percent of each state’s GDP being spent on their military by 2024....

Leaders of France, Germany, Spain and Italy have called for a European Union which allows groups of member states to advance at their own pace, in a joint effort to cushion the impact of the Brexit. French president François Hollande hosted his counterparts on Monday evening in Versailles, near Paris, to prepare for a larger EU meeting later this week. “Europe must be able to draw the consequences of the Brexit,” he said in a joint statement with the other leaders of the European Union’s major economies. […] Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni joined...

Pentagon chief Mattis tells NATO allies to increase defense spending by year’s end or US will ‘moderate its commitment’

As concern grows in Europe about US President-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to transatlantic cooperation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for the European Union to ”take more responsibility” on the world stage during a speech on Thursday in Brussels. “From the point of view of some of our traditional partners — and I am thinking here as well about the transatlantic relations — there is no eternal guarantee for a close cooperation with us Europeans,” Merkel told an audience in Brussels after receiving honorary doctorate degrees from Belgium’s prestigious Leuven and Ghent universities. […] “We should see this decision as an...

EU ministers approved a common defence plan on Monday despite sharp differences over how far it should go, as Donald Trump's election win stoked fears about Washington's commitment to European security. Trump's campaign threat to think twice about defending NATO allies unless they up their defence spending has driven calls for the European Union to press ahead on its own, despite objections from Britain. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini insisted the plans — to boost the bloc's ability to respond to external conflicts, help partner countries build their defence capabilities and protect EU citizens — would not undermine NATO....

European Union nations pressed ahead Tuesday with plans to boost military cooperation as Britain vowed to oppose the creation of an EU army or headquarters. With Britain leaving the EU, France and Germany have been spearheading moves to boost Europe’s capacity to run its own security operations. […] “We are in a very strong Franco-German relationship and we think we will be able to make significant progress before the end of the year,” he said, standing alongside German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen insisted that “it’s not about a European army.” …

France and Germany are preparing joint proposals for a “more active and more useful” European defense policy, the French defense ministry told AFP on Friday. […] The Franco-German document proposes the establishment of a European defense headquarters, a common satellite surveillance system and the sharing of logistics and military medical resources, according to the Saturday edition of the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. There would be a tighter circle of EU members for some defense projects where it proves impossible to gain agreement from all, the paper added, citing the document. …

Eastern EU countries on Friday pushed for the bloc to create a joint army as they met with Germany for talks on sketching Europe’s post-Brexit future. “We must prioritize security, and let’s start by building a common European army,” Hungary’s rightwing prime minister, Viktor Orban, said at talks with Czech, German, Polish and Slovak leaders. […] Leftist Czech Premier Bohuslav Sobotka, for his part, said that “we should also begin a discussion about creating a common European army.” […] In an early response to Britain’s shock vote to exit the EU, Poland’s powerful rightwing leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski called for EU...

After a string of violent rampages over a period of a week, an argument has broken out in Germany’s coalition government over whether the army (Bundeswehr) should be deployed inside the country. […] The debate has been bubbling away for years, with the German constitution placing very tight controls on when the army can be used domestically. Currently the constitution allows for the military to support emergency services during natural catastrophes. But in a new white paper on defense, published earlier this month, SPD and CDU agreed on a compromise wording which would allow for the army to be deployed...

Germany’s defense minister says Britain’s decision to leave the European Union offers an opportunity to press ahead with greater military cooperation in the bloc. Ursula von der Leyen says Britain for years “consistently blocked everything that had Europe written on it,” citing the example of a mobile European hospital some countries wanted to deploy to crisis regions. …

“Economic giant, political dwarf” — that is how the world long viewed post-World War II Germany, the European export power reluctant to use military muscle in global conflicts. It is an image that Europe’s most populous country wants to shed as it gradually assumes a bigger defense role, within the frameworks of NATO and the European Union. That ambition, the outcome of a debate that began two decades ago, is the message of Germany’s new military roadmap, the defense ministry’s so-called White Paper, to be released Wednesday. […] The paper, the first of its kind issued in a decade, envisions...