The European Union should form its own army to avoid depending on the whims of US leaders like Donald Trump, Czech MEP Mikulas Peska argued in response to the 45th POTUS’ criticism of European NATO members skimping on defense spending.
“Europe needs its own army. Donald Trump's protection cannot be relied upon,” Peska wrote in a post on social media platform X.
Such a force could be financed from the EU budget and operate under the auspices of the European Parliament, the MEP told European media outlet Euractiv.
“So we do not have to worry about whether there is a majority for 2% of GDP in 30 different parliaments,” Peksa elaborated.
The viability of such a scheme, however, remains in question, seeing how “even European troops within the NATO structure” such as the German Bundeswehr display “very limited combat capability” during military exercises while “German generals are even more incompetent in commanding military units,” said German political analyst and independent journalist Dr. Gregor Spitzen.
“There are very serious doubts that individual European armed forces will be able to become a real defense of the peoples of Europe, rather than an unnecessary burden that can only eat up taxpayers' money in peacetime,” he remarked.
Recent opinion polls in Germany and Poland also suggest that “at least 2/3 of the male population of conscription age will not defend their country in the event of a military conflict and will try to flee abroad as soon as possible,” Dr. Spitzen observed
“Discussions about some kind of ‘European army’ are therefore very theoretical. The EU has neither free money nor motivated soldiers, nor a functioning defense industry, nor even capable generals to create such a force,” he said.
According to Dr. Spitzen, such an army would be of little military value but could theoretically help “provide disaster relief and vaccination during a pandemic.”
He also noted that “military formations in a pan-European army are likely to be international and under a pan-European command,” and thus would not be used to resolve “inter-ethnic problems,” with Dr. Spitzen noting that “there are still many simmering ethnic conflicts in Europe.”