Nato chief: EU soft power is 'no power at all'

Nato head Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said there cannot be a credible EU foreign policy without the military means to back it up.

"We Europeans must understand that soft power alone is really no power at all. Without hard capabilities to back up its diplomacy, Europe will lack credibility and influence," he told MEPs on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels on Monday (6 May).

"If European nations do not make a firm commitment to invest in security and defence, then all talk about a strengthened European defence and security policy will just be hot air," he added.

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