Eurocrats eye 'EU army' that could activate up to 5,000 troops without full support of member states
Eurocrats are planning a 5,000-strong ‘EU army’ that could be activated without unanimous support from member states.
Controversial proposals in draft documents outline the creation of a military force by 2025 that could be sent into battle without the approval of all 27 EU governments.
Officials would be able to ‘swiftly deploy a modular force of up to 5,000 troops, including land, air and maritime components’, said a document seen by the Daily Mail.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said soldiers could be sent into war zones without the backing of all member states
It said the force could ‘respond to imminent threats or quickly react to a crisis situation, for example, a rescue and evacuation mission or a stabilisation operation in a hostile environment’.
But in a move likely to spark a backlash today, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said soldiers could be sent into war zones without the backing of all member states, potentially breaching the bloc’s own founding treaty.
Mr Borrell said smaller groups of countries could choose to take action because ‘we cannot decide by unanimity every step of the process’.
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He said he was not asking to abolish the unanimity rule but added: ‘What I believe is that this institutional setting can be “flexibilised” in order to act quicker and better.’
The plan would give EU members the power to ‘enable willing and capable European-led coalitions’.
Brexit has opened up the possibility of Brussels creating an EU army.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, left, and European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell pose for a photograph during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London in May this year
Britain vehemently opposed any such plan during its membership, arguing it would undermine Nato.
The EU’s draft documents for the ‘Strategic Compass’ plan were produced after European nations were humiliated by the hasty US pullout from Afghanistan this summer, which they said left them incapable of acting alone.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to make Europe less reliant on US firepower, with ‘a stronger and more capable European defence’.
Mr Borrell wrote in the briefing document that the bloc must start ‘learning the language of power’.
The draft plan will be presented to foreign and defence ministers on Monday. It is not expected to be fully approved until 2023.
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