EU Army: President Says EU Has ‘Building Blocks’ of a Defence Union

Soldiers of a Eurocorps detachment raise the European Union flag during the open day at th
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Kurt Zindulka

Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU needs “credible military capabilities”, remarking a European army would be “complementary” to the NATO alliance with America.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the President of the European Commission said that the EU has “set up the building blocks of a European defence union” in the latest signal that the bloc intends to create a full-fledged European army.

“It is complementary to NATO and it is different. There is a European way to foreign policy and foreign security policy where hard power is an important tool… but it is never the only one”, von der Leyen said per DW.

In her speech at the globalist meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the EU chief said that Europe needs “credible military capabilities” in order to combat crises in the future.

The claims stand contrary to those previously made by French President Macron, one of they key movers in the development of an EU army, who said in 2018 that the continent needed its own military to “protect ourselves” from the United States of America. President Trump shot back at the claim at the time, calling it “very insulting”, and reminding France that the U.S. already massively subsidised European defence.

Ms von der Leyen’s latest statements in Davos confirmed the fears of many Brexiteers, who have long warned of the possibility of the creation of an EU army, a belief that has long been derided in the UK by europhile Remain campaigners, who labelled the idea a “dangerous fantasy” during the 2016 Brexit campaign.

Ms von der Leyen touted the future of a European army over the summer when she served as the head of the defence ministry in Germany, writing that: “Europe’s army is already taking shape”.

“Germany and France are the driving forces in defence. We’re moving even further ahead with our close partner France”, she boasted.

In November the European Union announced 13 new joint military projects including new warships and a swath of new electronic warfare systems, bringing the total amount of joint EU army projects to 47.

Last month Fabrice Leggeri, the head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), said that the force which is now comprised of approximately 750 troops is set to expand to a force of 10,000 “civilian troops”, who “will be able to deploy to an EU member-state and exercise executive powers such as carrying out border controls”.

“We don’t have a military army, but we will have, let’s say, civilian troops wearing a European uniform. And for certain functions carrying weapons,” said Leggeri.

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