Support for a European army grows across Continent, poll suggests

4 comments

1. SS: A new poll shows a majority of citizens in major European countries (particularly France, Germany and Britain) support the idea of establishing a European army. And Brits want to rejoin the EU too. There is a growing public backing and momentum for EU autonomy amid concerns over US stability and reliability, especially in light of the war in eastern Europe, the situation in Greenland and the escalating trade war with Washington.

2. I’m not surprised. It makes sense and the framework already exists with NATO. Almost all EU countries are also NATO members, and the ones that aren’t are partners too.

   However, I believe a European army will never see the light of day. The effort required to rearm Europe is politically unpalatable, it would mean the end of Europe’s vast social benefits and probably the reinstitution of conscription. Everyone wants the army, but nobody wants to pay or man it. And while there have been grand statements about European unity and strength, they are completely toothless, because nothing has come out of it except disappointment.

   Furthermore, even at this early stage, we see various countries like France playing games to get a better position for themselves at the expense of European security. For example, France held back the Czech shell initiative because they wanted to the be sole supplier of shells to Ukraine. Or denying Britain inclusion in European rearmament planning without them agreeing to a massively unfavorable trade deal, even though other non-EU partners were allowed it without such conditions.

   Honestly I’m of the thought that any money, equipment, etc. should just be given to Poland and Finland, since they have proper militaries and are willing to make the sacrifices to keep the eastern border secure.

3. A unified European army is very unlikely to materialize due to national rivalries. For instance, French and German soldiers would hesitate to follow orders from British generals, just as British troops would likely resist French or German command.

4. The European Union has a fatal flaw that nobody ever address when they discuss these type of projects: what happens if a far right populist like Donal Trump wins in one of the mayor countries like France or Germany?

   There is no point in discussing further integration projects until the West manages to address the far-right elephant in the room, smashing the liberal order and trying to impose nationalistic and imperialistic agendas, specially looking at how far-right the youth has become thanks to social media.

   It took an incredible amount of work, time and world changing events, like WW2, to build the alliances that Trump smashed in weeks. There is no point in putting more work into building them unless we figure out how to protect them from a single “bad” election.

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