Europe needs a common defence not
national rearmament, the leader of the centre-left Democratic
Party Elly Schlein said on Wednesday.
"Europe needs a common defence, not a race to rearmament
undertaken by single States.
"This is and remains the PD's position", said the leader of
Italy's main opposition party.
Schlein went on to say that the PD "supports many points" of a
resolution on common defence voted by the European Parliament on
Wednesday but the "resolution also backed the RearmEU plan
proposed by (European Commission President) Ursula von der Leyen
against which we have advanced and we confirm a lot of criticism
because it prompts single states to rearm by getting into
national debt, but does not contribute to a common defence and
rather risks delaying it.
"This plan needs to be changed", said Schlein.
The PD's delegation split on the EP's vote with 11 MEPs
abstaining and 10 voting in favour of the text of the white
paper on European defence which urged the EU to act urgently to
guarantee its security and "welcomed with favour the ReArm
Europe plan" launched by von der Leyen on March 4.
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