September 4, 2021

Paolo Gentiloni, the EU's commissioner for economics and taxation, has spoken to CNBC about a need for the bloc to develop on the geopolitical stage as the U.S. and other Western allies take a step back.

"We are an economic superpower but we cannot be completely absent in the geopolitical role," he told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick at the European House Ambrosetti Forum on Saturday.

Gentiloni namechecked what he called a "terrible" conclusion to the war in Afghanistan in recent weeks as one example of the U.S. and others reducing their commitments on the global stage. His comments add another voice to the argument that the EU should develop a common defense policy, which many see as a forerunner to a full EU army.

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