German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble says the EU requires one common army instead of 28 separate ones to tackle domestic and foreign security threats. During an interview published in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday, Schäuble said that as “We will have to spend a lot more funds for joint European defense initiatives…our aim must be a joint European army.”

He noted that the funds required to maintain and organize 28 separate armies could be used “far more effectively together. For Germany, this means that we will have to support our foreign and security policies more strongly than we would perhaps like,” he said. He also stressed that controlling the crises in Africa and the Middle East requires stronger European engagement.

Over the last few months, Germany has gradually taken on a more assertive role in international military operations, which was highlighted recently after German lawmakers approved a mission to send six reconnaissance jets, a frigate and 1,200 troops to Syria to help the so-called international coalition against Daesh.

The redeployment was faced with opposition from Damascus, which has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the effectiveness and the true purpose of the US-led airstrikes. German forces are also deployed in several other locations around the globe, including Afghanistan and Mali.