MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The countries of the European Union must ensure their own security, not a “fictitious army” EU. This was stated by Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak at a meeting with the head of Pentagon Lloyd Austin.

“Any rivalry between the EU and NATO in a security context, very bad for herself. I also want to emphasize that from the point of view of Polish security it is very important that national states are responsible for defense capabilities, and not some fictional army of Europe, it [обеспечение безопасности] should not be in the EU’s area of ​​responsibility,” said the Polish minister. His words are quoted by the press service Ministry of Defense countries.

As Blaszczak noted, the transfer of security powers from the national to the pan-European level, which the European Parliament is to discuss this week, “threatens the security” of Poland.

Earlier, the Polish Ministry of Defense reported that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived on Tuesday at the Polish Rzeszow airport near the border with Ukraine to discuss military cooperation with his Polish counterpart. On November 20, the Pentagon chief visited Kyiv.