European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s plans to establish an EU army “to protect European values”, have been scrutinized by defence experts and branded “unrealistic” and unlikely to develop into more than a “symbolic” union.
European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s plans to establish an EU army “to protect European values”, have been scrutinized by defence experts and branded “unrealistic” and unlikely to develop into more than a “symbolic” union.
Martin Hurt, who has previously worked for Sweden and Estonia’s ministries of defence and is currently serving as deputy director of Estonia’s International Centre for Defence Studies, doubts Juncker’s plans will materialise, calling them “unrealistic” and “unnecessary”.
“We already have NATO and the alliance has, over many decades, proved to be relatively well functioning,” Hurt says.
“From a military point of view, the EU is what you get if you start with NATO’s membership but remove the most capable ally – the U.S. – and Canada, who is also a net contributor of security, but instead add countries that in terms of security and defence sometimes are classified as free riders – Sweden, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus,” he adds.
“To me it seems that it would not be in Europe’s interest to build up a degraded copy of something that already exists.”
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