EU A Peace 'superpower', Mogherini Says After Trump Win

BRUSSELS, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Nov, 2016 ) - The European Union is becoming a "superpower" indispensible for world peace, the bloc's foreign affairs chief said Thursday as Europe pondered the implications of Donald Trump's upset US election victory.

"In the months and years ahead, actually I can say in the hours we are living, there is and will be an increasing demand of Europe from our neighbours and from our partners worldwide," Federica Mogherini said.

"There is and there will be an increasing demand for a principled global security provider, for a superpower that believes in multilateralism and cooperation," Mogherini said in an address to the European Defence Agency.

Trump's stunning win has shocked a Europe fearful that his "America First" campaign pledge will see Washington downgrade ties with both NATO and the European Union that have underpinned the Western political order since World War II.

The EU has already started pushing ahead with plans for a European army in the wake of another geopolitical shock: key defence player Britain's Brexit vote to leave the bloc. Some EU states such as France and Germany see Brexit as an opportunity to press ahead with defence cooperation that London has long blocked, and analysts have said the same could be true if Trump were to turn his back on Europe.

"It is up to us. In a changing global landscape, Europe will be more and more an indispensible power," Mogherini said.