EU risks US-China domination

France sounded the alarm Friday against drastic cuts in military budgets in Europe, warning its partners that the cuts would leave them under "Sino-American domination."

French Defense Minister Herve Morin said he told his European Union counterparts at a meeting in Ghent, Belgium, that plans to step up European military cooperation would falter without proper budgets.

"Most European states have given up on a simple ambition, which is that Europeans obtain a military tool allowing them to weigh in on world affairs," Morin told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of European defense ministers.

"At the pace we're going, Europe is progressively becoming a protectorate, and in 50 years we will become a game in a balancing act between new powers, in which we will be under a Sino-American dominion," he said.

Morin warned that "every other country in the world is rearming," while European states that already had weak military budgets before the economic crisis are proceeding with new cuts.

Morin urged EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton to take the mantle of Europe's military ambitions and give it "impetus."

European governments should examine which capacities they want to keep sovereign and which they will share, he said.

AFP