French defence minister welcomes his German counterpart

French Defence Minister Lecornu welcomes his German counterpart Boris to Paris on Friday to sign an agreement on a joint tank project, the main ground combat system.

Lecornu said a European rapid-response force, including to help evacuate nationals from hostile environments, could be up and running by next year. After a keynote speech on Europe on Thursday by President Emmanuel Macron, Lecornu mentioned the need for such a force "to be able to deploy rapidly up to 5,000 military personnel to hostile environments".