THE SCHENGEN DEFENSE

“It's time to start moving towards a European military alliance, that is the Schengen defense” is a quote taken by Reuters from the speech of the German Defense Minister, Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, who compared the idea of ​​a defense alliance with the visa-free regime between the countries of the Schengen Treaty.

It seems that the Brexit with 51.9% of the British votes supporting the withdrawal from the EU can thoroughly reformat the relations within the European Union. According to European functionaries, many projects of Brussels, which have been postponed indefinitely due to London’s position, now have a real chance to be implemented.

One of the main issues debated recently in Europe was the creation of a unified army. Throughout all these years, the United Kingdom has strongly opposed all attempts of the European Union to create an army, as she felt no sense in duplicating or replacing the functions of NATO.

The desire of European countries to build their own military policy outside the US-dominated NATO framework, has led to real action. Immediately a day after the British referendum, the German and French foreign ministers put forward the idea of “European pact on security”.

The new global European strategy calls for closer cooperation under the auspices of the EU and ensuring that the Union has armed forces, which would operate independently of the United States.

Long before the EU

Incidentally, the attempts to unify the armed forces in Europe precede the integration processes in other spheres of European cooperation including the economy and politics.

Just within three years after the end of World War II, on March 17, 1948, five Western European countries - Belgium, Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France, have concluded the Brussels Pact. Along with the provisions on economic, social and cultural cooperation, it also contained articles on “collective self-defense” against a possible aggressor. The pact was aimed mainly at preventing the resurgence of German militarism and opposition to the Soviet military threat.

However, in the following year, these defensive functions were transferred to NATO, an organization without clear and serious grounds yet.

In 1950, the Europeans, being impressed by the war started between Koreas, returned to the issue of the creation of the unified armed forces. Thanks to the initiative proposed by the French Prime Minister René Pleven, a project was drafted to unite the armed forces of France, Italy, West Germany and the Benelux countries under a common command. Ironically, the project failed because of France - the idea was not supported by ​​the lower house of the Parliament.

But the Europeans have not abandoned the idea of ​​collective defense, and in 1954, the Brussels pact revived under a different name in the Paris agreement - the Western European Union (WEU), joined by West Germany and Italy. However, since the alliance from began to play a dominant role in ensuring military security in Europe, the new military-political union soon fell into complete dependence on NATO.

Over the time, the EU has been gradually taking away the military powers of the WEU. The process of integrating the WEU into the EU was actually completed in 2002. Finally, this structure, which included not only the European Union but also to countries such as Norway, Turkey, Iceland, etc., only ceased to exist in 2011.

The attempts to create a single European army did not stop. In 1991, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain formed a united team called Eurocorps. In 1995, the French, Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese established European Rapid Operational Force (Eurofor). Its task was to ensure the security in the Mediterranean region.

The military structure of the European Union

Gradually, a multinational military structure was established under the auspices of the European Union. As a result, the EU would become not only political, social, and economic but also a military-political alliance of countries.

Since the beginning of 2001, autonomous organs of military and political planning and management have begun to operate as part of the EU Council: the Political and Security Committee, Military Committee, Military Staff. The European Defense Agency, which is engaged in the development of defense capabilities of the Union, was also established at that time.

The EU has its own military units such as Rapid Reaction Force (EUFOR, established in 2000), European Corps (1991), European Gendarmerie Forces (2004), Naval Forces Europe, EU Battle Groups (2004).

Why does the EU need an army?

According to some experts, the idea of ​​creating a European army resumed with the new force and is apparently ensues the current situation in the EU, which is seriously destabilized due to uncontrolled flows of migrants and social crises. In this sense, the creation of a single supranational army allows you to perform military and police functions.

In addition, the creation of separate EU military structures supports the European military and industrial complex. Europe has numerously exceed the United States in the 21^st century in terms of the volume of sold weapons, and opening a new market in which it has virtually no competitors would be advantageous for the Union.

In September, the European Commission, going ahead of the curve, launched an initiative to issue joint bonds of European companies operating in the defense industry. It is also planned to create a single European defense fund to finance the development of military technology. According to the commissioners, these proposals will contribute to the development of joint EU defense capabilities and make it less dependent on imported technology. In addition, they proposed the introduction of VAT concessions for joint EU defense programs.

NATO again

The intensity of the discussions about the bright future European army is increasing every month. The statements of many European leaders have demonstrated that the European Union ambiguously perceives the role of NATO in matters related to the security of the European region. The leaders of Germany, France, Romania, the Czech Republic, Finland, and several other countries support the creation of the European army. Against this idea, apart from the UK, are such traditional US supporters, like Poland and the Baltic countries.

At the same time, even those politicians, who can hardly be considered anti-American, supported this idea. This is the former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who were one of the authors of the report published by the Centre for European Policy Studies “More unity in matters of European defense”. The latter clearly calls for the creation of pan-European forces.

The Supporters of a unified European army believe that a good starting point in the formation of the common position of the armed forces is the Lisbon Treaty of 2009 about joint defense. This situation, as an analog of Article 5 of the NATO charter, obliges all members of the alliance to aid an ally under the attack.

European Commission’s President, Jean-Claude Juncker, has even suggested that the EU would not be taken seriously as long as he did not get its own army. “The joint European army will show Russia that we are serious about protecting the values ​​of the European Union. Europe's image has suffered considerably, and in the field of foreign policy, we are not taken seriously”, quotes him The Times.

Juncker’s recent address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg was also focused on this issue. According to him, the strengthening of control along the EU borders implies the emergence of a European security and defense strategy, which may not always coincide with the priorities of NATO and that is able to provide only local military experts to better understand the situation on the ground and able to respond adequately.

However, Juncker seems to have failed to convince the opponents of the continental army led by its own General Staff, independent of the US authorities.

According to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, the implementation of the EU Defense Policy Action Plan does not provide for the establishment of a European army, and designed for collaboration “on the implementation of ongoing (currently 17) EU missions, in particular the operation on migration control in the Mediterranean”. Mogherini stressed that these steps are complementary and not a substitute for NATO's actions. 

It is expected that the Action Plan is submitted to the European Council for approval in December 2016. This means that the debates around it will only increase.