During a recent event in Brussels, outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg spoke against the EU setting up a military force of its own, as it could create uncertainty for the bloc’s already “understaffed command structure.”
“I don’t understand why there is a need for a different, competing intervention force,” he noted.
The EU seeking to realize defense efforts of its own is “already diverting resources” from established NATO structures, a senior official shared with the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
“Competing structures create uncertainty... that only helps the enemy,” the outlet quotes the official as saying.
Plans for expansion of the EU’s military staff would also draw military personnel away from NATO’s own “understaffed command structure at a time when generals are in short supply.”
“Why have two commands without full staffing when you can have one properly functioning,” the official emphasized, adding that EU structures “suck in troops” and that “NATO can’t even staff some of our own.”
NATO officials also pointed to the fact that EU defense plans could shut out certain NATO states, namely the UK, Norway, and Turkiye, none of which are EU members.