Conte: Von der Leyen taking Europe to military escalation

Published 5 days, 22 hours ago

5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Giuseppe Conte reiterated his criticism of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s ReArm Europe plan after she presented it on Tuesday to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

M5S members make their point. (Photo: ANSA)

“It is not true that Europe invests less than Russia [in defence], it is true that we invest worse,” said former prime minister Conte in Strasbourg.

“If we had serious leaders, they would meet for weeks and months and come up with a serious common defence project, with a command unit.

“We are heading towards a military escalation.

“Today, Ursula Von der Leyen is taking us towards a war economy.

“We will not vote for Ursula Von der Leyen’s proposal.”

Conte took part in a protest in the parliament, including in the public gallery, with M5S members holding up banners reading ‘No more weapons’, ‘No to rearmament’ and ‘More jobs, fewer weapons’.

ANSA

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