It's required now. I'm British, and I want to see us align and unite with our European neighbours to make a stand now.
I want Germany to finally brush off it's past and join the rest of Europe in mobilising towards defending this continent. We need EVERYONE now. It's time to act, it's time to unite.
It's time to show some courage.
27 comments
Most important is equipment standardisation. Most armies already train together anyways
We need way bigger production capabilities and have to fill the enabler roles the US has historically had in the european part of NATO
An actual army can be talked about in a couple of years, lets get the troops we already have properly equipped first
I think we need a temporary defense alliance to get rid of Putin. After that hopefully we won’t need a joint army anymore. Main threat currently to EU security is Putin, without him Russia might correct its course. If not, then alliance can prolong its stay.
We should start investing and manufacturing military robots, drones and tech en masse and flood Ukraine battle lines.
I’m not happy to admit this, but Europe is NOT united enough. Too much internal petty conflicts, endless talks about finances, politicians who are too hesitant, legal delays, no sense of urgency for every country etc.
It will remain an indecisive shit show and Putin and Trump know this.
Believe me, I wish it was different… But Europe has never been united regarding one simple thing. And if political interests get really really big, it will only fuel that indecisiveness.
The biggest problem is that European politicians are very afraid to really speak their minds, because if they’re wrong… they will lose votes and maybe even their position of power. And apparently votes are still more important than Ukraine 😞.
No. We need better coordination between the national armies and increased spending on defence, but having one European army is a step too far against national sovereignty.
I’m not interested in a European army, but I think we should all use standardised tech and continue training together.
A European army is not possible. Each country has its own external interests.
Would Spain allow it’s forces to defend the Falkland Islands? How do you feel about defending French territory outside Europe?
Who would be the Commander in Chief? Who can declare war? Can one country block any declaration? (looking at you Hungary).
All we can hope for is NATO without the US which is really what we currently have.
Friends, we Ukrainians need to be included in the Alliance of Europe, we will help protect the security and sovereignty of Europe. It is you, as the people who vote for your leaders in different parts of Europe, who must tell them what you want, what your desires are, if your desire is to be accepted by Ukraine into the alliance, you must do it.
Considering we cannot count on the USA anymore, what is nato other than a european defense force that is fully integrated with some overseas allies, like the UK and Canada?
As much as I hate the US right now, I see something in the system of the regular armed forces being under EU control and the national guard, under national control during peacetime. This would counter the sentiment that countries give up all sovereignty, while also making sure that the EU by itself can project force when necessary.
The EU is not unified enough yet but a unified army might be the future. There are things to be solved. First an army need to be efficiant. We need to be able to act fast and flexible. The EU way to handel many things might not actually cut it. Of cource it’s an EU memberstate core that need to be the basis, but we also need to consider a few things. First we need to see that global threats are global. Even if the first concern is our borders and our close proximity we need a strong cooperation with global partners that benefits mutualy by this or we will be screwed anyway. Then we need to understand that countries can become radicalized from time to time. Thats is not only true for the US, sometime Hungary, or Poland and the UK, but it could be true for countries like Germany, France, Sweden or Spain as well. There are also concerns that a countries politicians start to act selfserving and not to the benefit for the whole. This things usually ends up like a race to the bottom and we need to adress this.
Some core built on a need to know basis would problably be the best. Maybe even some laws that actually forces members to either spend or pay up anyway. Maybe then a more independent organization that can act outside the political otherwise controled field built upon partly freedom to act or otherwise majority rule. We need to be strong and flexible and not get stuck in endless debates when it comes to defence. I absolutly support the EU system in many ways but in this matter we need to act diffrently. We of cource also need to really focus on domestic, meaning EU-, weapon manefacturing and apart from this be less nationalistic about this. With increased spendings and freedom to act wothout US control we really need that.
This is both defence but also R&D development, a bigger and united spaceprogram and global partnerbuilding. The nationalistic feelings will need to be set apart. Otherwise we wont have a chance. No EU countries can really independently match dragons like China, the USA or problably India in the future.
Language, common language is important as hell if they decide on a European Defense Federation, you don’t want to end up like the Austro-Hungarian Army did in WW1
Sounds a bit backwards, but the first thing should be a nuclear umbrella. Probably french design, but new ones. As I dont think France want to just give up theirs. And long term work on new designs.
Another part could be Navy, as The Netherlands is currently struggling to recruit the troops needed to man all their current ships, some of their fleet could be the start off point. As the Belgian and German navies already operate as part of the Dutch navy.
A unified European army is a red herring, it’s a pipe dream for very few, and is explicitly outside the Lisbon treaty. Just imagine what Hungary or a similar actor might do in it, and there’s no way most of the nations in Europe will give up military sovereignty.
We need to make a European version of NATO, which has coordinated armies able to fully perform all relevant tasks without outside logistics, and support, and with its own command structure.
Having singular regional armies within that framework might make sense, such as a combined Nordic army. It might also make sense to have individual units within it, which function using troops from across Europe.
I see this question all the time recently. Let’s face facts you need France and the UK to agree on nuclear arms policy.
First urgency is to replace digital equipment ( cisco, dell, windows, etc), unistall facebook, insta, chrome, etc, than an army.
The biggest problem for the formation of a continental army is and has always been the often conflicting exterior policies of EU states.
I can see the formation of an institution to coordinate European armies, especially to act on Ukraine. Kind of like a NATO but even more integrated.
Heck, I even see plausible the creation of a multinational corps to act on Ukraine. Kind of like the seed of your continental army
I’m all up for this. I think it’s a logical step and a way for the EU to extend its influence to matters of defence, smth which I think we’re going to need to stay afloat in the coming decades.
However that’s it for now. It’s simply not possible to compound all European foreign policies into a coherent plan, not right now.
Because… At the end of the day the EU is a union of countries, which, generally look primarily for themselves. And that’s largely incompatible with a unified army. We’re not ready yet. And it’s not clear wether we’ll ever be.
If we look at history there is, for example, a very good chance that a EU army might eventually be used against its own people, which I bet doesn’t sit well.
The EU has always been slow but steady and we’ve managed to go through a hell lot of integration without major conflicts and setbacks (apart from Lisbon… and brexit). it might be time to rush things a bit, but that’s probably gonna have consequences.
Realistically a continental army is a non starter for a whole host of reasons, but not least that individual national interests will always be taken as paramount and that prevents the idea ever getting off the ground
What we can and should do is joint procurement to the extent that there is **one** model of tank, **one** model of IFV, **one** heavy gun, **one** heavy fighter, **one** medium range SAM and so on
I think many people underestimate the economical aspect of this. The defense industry and infrastructure will be the critical point for debate. Which companies will get funded? Where will the production be located? Which infrastructure (military bases, streets/roads, underground structures, research facilities etc.) will be built? Where will they be built? And who will pay for them? If the UK, France and Germany basically dictate most of this and cherry pick it will be very difficult to attract the interest of the other European states. If this project is meant to last, it is crucial to use this opportunity to boost some economically weaker nations as well.
No no no, too complicated and time consuming with too many cooks in the kitchen.
Break down the continent in to action areas – North Sea and northern Atlantic handled by Britain, Norway Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Dutch. Let Spain, Portugal Italy Greece and the Balkans handle The Med. Germany France Poland the Czezchs and the Baltics handle continental ground operations.
This is much more flexible and achievable than one lumbering behemoth that will be impossible to adequately equip and manage.
Why though?
Don’t get me wrong, eventually getting an European Army after further EU integration in like 20 to 30 years, sure, why not.
But now trying to get 27 EU countries, UK, NO, + x others to align on a common army that needs proper standardized weaponry? No chance.
We probably need a European successor to NATO, some kind of European Defence Alliance, where different armies train to work and fight together. [NATO Enhanced Forward Presence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Enhanced_Forward_Presence) has shown which countries can work together, what their strengths and what their weaknesses are. By creating multinational battalion battle groups we should be strong enough for the moment.
I thought it’s a European Union defense? That’s how it’s portayed here and if that’s so, there’s nö britain.
After a long period of ignoring the implications of world events and allowing our defence ability to deteriorate to the point of embarrassment, Ireland is on a fast track to improve the size and effectiveness of its defence forces. While we will never be a major military force, I believe the people of Ireland will be keen to contribute to the defence of Europe to the best of our ability. And that starts with protecting Ukraine.
Slava Ukraini. Heroim slava.
Integrate and standardize the existing armies. That’s can be done quicker and we’re still able to act even if Hungary feels Russia is right about occupying east Poland.
I wouldn’t be against, but the most important thing is that **We need a combined investment strategy**, we should all invest in bulk for example Ukrainian drone manufacturing, and then we buy Ukrainian drones for everybody. Maybe Germany solely handles tanks or ammunition production, UK flexes their Royal Shipyards, maybe France and Sweden works together to bring aircraft to everyone-etc.
Keeps our industry domestic and efficient.
Yes! I’m British too. We don’t need an EU army, but a European one. NATO is in it’s last days. Canada can join in too, we’ll support Cannda when trump and his minions decide to invade them too.
We’re in. I mean.. I don’t even think we have a choice tbh. It is plain clear the Russians want to fuck us 🤷♀️ we don’t like fucking with them but as it turns out “consensual” is not a word in their vocabulary 😶
Need to stop buying US. They could restrict supply and also put caveats on the use of munitions. Spend money on our own industries.