CERNOBBIO, Italy—The challenges to security emerging from the upheaval in Afghanistan should be a wake-up call for the European Union, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday, urging the EU to be more ambitious on defense and on global leadership.
“Europe has to become No. 3 superpower besides China and the United States. Let’s open our eyes, we are facing threats and we cannot rely any more on the protection of the United States,” Le Maire told reporters during an annual business conference in Cernobbio on Lake Como.
