Jean-Claude Juncker calls for creation of EU army

8/3/2015

By Duncan Robinson and James Shotter

The president of the European Commission has called for the creation of an EU army in order to show Russia “that we are serious about defending European values”.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the EU’s executive arm, said an EU army would let the continent “react credibly to threats to peace in a member state or a neighbour of the EU”.

The EU is divided on how to deal with an increasingly forthright Russia, which has been accused by Nato and the US of supplying rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine with military equipment and intelligence in the conflict against government-backed forces.

Some member states, including the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are calling for the bloc to take a much stricter line on its eastern neighbour.

Large member states are also split over the idea of an EU army, with the proposals being cautiously welcomed by many senior German politicians but repeatedly dismissed outright by a succession of British governments.

In an interview with German radio on Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defence minister, also spoke in favour of a European army, pointing out that a brigade of Dutch soldiers was already under German command.

“I think that in the Bundeswehr we would also be prepared, in certain circumstances, to put units under the control of another nation,” she told Deutschlandfunk. “This interweaving of armies, with the perspective of one day having a European Army, is, in my opinion, the future,”

Mr Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg, whose army consists of 900 professional soldiers, has long argued for the establishment of an EU force, making it part of his foreign policy plan during the selection process for the presidency of the commission in 2014. British prime minister David Cameron argued against his appointment, claiming that Mr Juncker was too much of a federalist for the position.

Mr Cameron has repeatedly reassured eurosceptic MPs in his own party that Britain would “never support” any form of EU army. Responding to Mr Juncker’s comments on Sunday, a government spokeswoman said: “Our position is crystal clear that defence is a national, not an EU responsibility and that there is no prospect of that position changing and no prospect of a European army.”

Some MEPs defended the idea, arguing that such an army should be controlled by the European Parliament.

“I support Juncker in building an EU army if it means the termination of all EU member states’ armies and is controlled by the European Parliament,” tweeted Jan Philipp Albrecht, a German Green MEP.

But eurosceptic parties criticised the suggestion. Mike Hookem, a defence spokesman for the anti-EU UK Independence party, said: “A European army would be a tragedy for the UK. We have all seen the utter mess the EU has made of the eurozone economy, so how can we even think of trusting them with this island’s defence.”

Mr Juncker said an EU army would “help us to develop a common foreign and security policy, and to fulfil Europe’s responsibilities in the world”. Nato was not a sufficient protection for the EU as not all EU members are part of the alliance, according to Mr Juncker.

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