Germany proposes to create a unified European army

Germany will propose to the EU to continue work on the creation of a unified European army, reports the Financial Times. According to the English language newspaper, the Germans will launch this initiative in July of this year. Germany proposes to create a single European General Staff and the EU Council of Defence Ministers. In addition, EU countries will need to establish mechanisms for co-production and the use of military equipment. Another important issue is EU cooperation in the field of cybersecurity.

Background

Plans to create a single European army were nurtured for decades. This topic has become especially relevant in the early 1990's, when, after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the end of the Cold War, the formal reason for the existence of NATO disappeared. At the same time, the Maastricht Treaty was signed, which indicated the policy of greater integration in the EU. For the first time it introduced the concept of a common EU foreign and security policy. Nevertheless, the defense policy of the EU is linked to NATO infrastructure, even legally. Thus, now the European Union cannot carry out a full defense policy without the support of the North Atlantic Alliance.

The military component of the EU in present

Nevertheless, the EU has succeeded in creating a joint rapid-reaction force. The most significant achievement is the "EU BattleGroups." They consist of 18 army battalions. 14 battalions of 1,500 people, and 4 battalions of 2500 people. In addition, there is the mechanism of EUFOR, which allows the EU to create a rapid response team to deal with specific problems, usually abroad. Since 2003, the EU created 4 similar missions: in Macedonia, Bosnia, Chad, and the Republic of the Congo.

In the EU, there is the EU Military Committee consisting of the Defence Ministers of the Union and the EU Military Staff. The latter focuses mainly on issues of strategic planning and, through its headquarters created each time by a special decision of the EU Council, it manages the EU missions abroad. The existing EU military structure is not able to ensure the security of the European continent, and is more focused on solving problems abroad, so Europe is still dependent on NATO on this issue.

Continentalist initiative

NATO is the most important tool that provides the Atlanticist geopolitical orientation of Europe. Therefore, any measures aimed at achieving the continent's independence from the US in the field of defense should be regarded as a manifestation of European continentalism. The European Union will be able to become an independent geopolitical pole only if it becomes independent in the field of defense. Moreover, NATO has demonstrated its ineffectiveness. The alliance is not involved in the most important conflict regarding the future of Europe - the war in Syria, and demonstrates that it is not ready to respond to new threats and challenges, such as the fight against terrorism.

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Germany proposes to create a unified European army