Ms von der Leyen said: “I believe it is high time for defence in Europe to move up a gear.”

Mr Macron has long pushed for a “true European army”, first outlining his ambitions in 2018 during a speech to mark the centenary of the First World War Armistice.

On a visit to the former Western Front in Verdun that year, he said that Russian had shown it could be a threat and Europe had to be able to “defend itself better alone”.

He has proposed a joint intervention force for crisis missions.

The UK, while in favour of such a force, opposes a European army because of the potential risk of creating a parallel structure to Nato, which Mr Macron controversially dubbed “brain dead” in 2019.

– ‘Strategic compass’ – 

He has warned that Europeans can no longer rely on the US to defend them, particularly since the expiry of its 1987 nuclear treaty with Russia banning medium-range ground-launched missiles. Mr Macron touched on this issue on Friday as a reason why the EU must forge ahead with its own plans for autonomy.

The “Strategic Compass” mentioned by Ms von der Leyen is the closest thing the EU has to a military doctrine and akin to NATO’s “Strategic Concept” that sets out alliance goals.

A draft leaked in November mooted controversial plans to allow the bloc to deploy a joint military force without the unanimous support of all its member states.

The EU Rapid Deployment Capacity would be able to “swiftly deploy a modular force of up to 5,000 troops, including land, air and maritime components,” according to the draft plans.

Ms von der Leyen has been a staunch supporter of more military autonomy for the EU, calling in her State of the Union speech in September for the EU to “step up to the next level” and send soldiers to the world’s conflict zones independently of Nato.

“There will be missions where Nato or the United Nations will not be present but where Europe should be,” she said. “Europe can and clearly should be able and willing to do more on its own.”