(Photo: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Philippe Wojazer/AFP via Getty Images)
By MG Andis Dilāns (LVA), Commandant of the Baltic Defence College
The idea of a European army has been floating around almost since the very beginning of the EU, and the idea has appeared on the agenda regularly. Italian political scientist Altiero Spinelli, who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the EU, stressed in his “Ventotene Manifesto: For A Free And United Europe,” that there was the necessity to create a common army in order to avoid mutual military conflicts. The idea was also proposed by Charles de Gaulle in 1950, as well as French political scientist Rene Pleven in 1952. But they were never able to gain a united opinion in France, and eventually France imposed veto on this initiative due to fears of losing its sovereignty. [1; 2]
The idea of the common army and common defence strategy gained momentum again in 2015, when European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker called for an EU army as a means of showing to Russia that the EU is very serious about defending its values. At the same time, he underlined that the creation of the EU army would not challenge the role of NATO. Now also the President of France Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel are urging the EU to create the army. [1; 3; 4]
In response to U.S. President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, Macron has recently warned that Europeans can no longer rely only on the U.S. and must have a “true, European army.” Regarding cyber security, he mentioned that, “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America.” Trump commented that Macron’s proposal for an EU army to protect against threats from Russia, China and even from the U.S. is “very insulting,” and suggested that “the French would be speaking German today if not for U.S. support during the two World Wars.” [5; 6]
Soon afterwards, Merkel announced that she would not seek another term (her current term as a Chancellor ends in 2021) and spoke of the EU’s need to pull together, stressing that such an army would only complement NATO. The Chancellor also proposed “a European Security Council with rotating seats for member states that would make speedy foreign policy decisions without the need of unanimity.” The idea was also supported by the German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, as during the Berlin Security Conference she said, “The European defence union is in the making, and this leads to the idea of a ‘Euro army’. This would be challenging but necessary.” [2; 6; 12]
Of course, Europe has various strategic security challenges, like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, ISIS-inspired terror attacks in Europe and the refugee crisis, which resulted from the collapse of the Syrian and Libyan states. But is it really possible and necessary to have a European army? In an ideal world, if the political will of all EU member states coincided and resources allowed it, it may be possible, but it seems that there are more counter arguments against it than a real window of opportunity. Some experts stress that there is no real necessity to create a European army, because each European country already has sufficient (respective for each country) military means, and countries may unite and work together on specific aims. For example, currently there are several military operations, which are led by the EU, or by European countries, which have united for reaching specific security aims.
As 22 out of 28 EU countries are also a part of NATO, most concerns about an EU army are expressed regarding the cooperation with NATO – whether certain NATO functions would be unnecessarily doubled. At the same time, it is worth remembering that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that discussions about European military cooperation are very positive and there is no contradiction between a strong European defence mechanism and NATO.
Even though the creation of a real European army seems unreal or a truly long-term vision, it facilitates the discussion about military cooperation, especially as it relates to the optimization of resources. Consequently, European countries have been paying more attention to cooperation when it comes to purchasing armament and border protection. [1]
In 2016 the High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, presented the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy, which outlined several military integration aspects, including common training and military industry support. Even though this plan was supported and led to the creation of the European Defence Fund with a yearly budget of 5.5 billion Euros mainly for military research and industry, not all EU countries agree with the idea of the creation of an EU army. Even the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is not accepted by all countries, as the UK, Denmark and Malta are not participating in it. This shows that there is still some resistance towards united military cooperation, not to mention the creation of the European army as such. [4; 7; 8]
The matter has become even more challenging, because the UK, which has so far financed around 16% of the EU budget, will exit the EU in March 2019. This will definitely affect current defence cooperation agreements. For example, the UK has already withdrawn its offer to lead a battle-ready EU military force after Brexit. [7; 9]
Apart from different political and national interests there are many other issues to be considered, such as the political authority and legitimacy to send soldiers to fight. That is still firmly national authority and likely not to change. Other issues include resource limitations, logistical problems, military integration and linguistic constraints. [2]
According to the former Chief of Defence of Latvia LtGen (ret) Raimonds Graube, the European army cannot be created as a parallel structure to NATO for several reasons. First of all, he says is not even clear what is meant by the term “European army,” nor is it clear how such an army should look. Secondly, a parallel structure would not be able to solve European security concerns, because an adequate security situation is only achievable with the help of transatlantic cooperation. Thirdly, the creation of the European army would increase the bureaucracy, because new headquarters and logistical centres would be needed, which in turn would require qualified human resources. His conclusion is that European military power may be only part of a common NATO structure for developing certain NATO skills which NATO lacks. Taking into account the principles of comprehensive defence, the EU should strengthen other security structures, for instance, the border guard – for the fight against illegal immigration. [10]
Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral (ret) James Stavridis, pointed out that above all these recent comments from great powers on the creation of the European army may embolden Russia, as it may show a break in the unity between the U.S. and its partners. [11]
Interestingly, the EU already has its own multinational battlegroups. Even though these battlegroups have been fully operational since 2007, they have never been deployed because of the reasons described earlier and mostly because “like any decision relating to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) their deployment is subject to a unanimous decision by the Council.” It ultimately goes back again to each country’s national authority. [13] Moreover, only four NATO countries in Europe are spending at least 2% of GDP on defence. [14]
Realizing these considerations, I agree with LtGen (ret) Graube that a European army may not exist in parallel with NATO, but specific European military structures may exist for tackling certain security issues which are not covered by NATO.
Sources:
[1] https://www.nacionalaapvieniba.lv/aktualitate/es-vienota-armija-apjukums-vai-nepieciesamiba/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/world/europe/merkel-macron-european-army.html
[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46108633
[6] https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-emmanuel-macron-eu-army-to-complement-nato/
[7] https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/uk–eu-defence-and-security-cooperation
[9] https://www.politico.eu/article/theresa-may-uk-military-britain-pulls-out-of-eu-defense-force/
[11] https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-fights-macrons-european-army-over-words-not-weapons-nato/
[12] https://www.janes.com/article/84844/european-army-necessary-for-eu-german-defence-minister
[13] https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-Homepage/33557/eu-battlegroups_en
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