Excellent comment by the former head of the European defense agency Nick Witney on the talk about a "European army". ecfr.eu/article/commen…
"Perhaps the backlash would be worth it if those calling for a European army actually meant what they said. But they do not."
"For if the phrase is to have any real meaning, it must connote a commonly funded military force under a centralised, supranational command."
"Yet the idea that a French president or a German chancellor wants to see the men and women in their armed forces put in harm’s way on the say-so of some general in Brussels, and without the precise and explicit authorisation of their national authorities, is patently absurd."
"No one in Europe is ready to contemplate such a situation. Not the French, not the Germans, not the Brits – nor the Poles, the Portuguese, or anyone else. But, if that is not the deal, it is not a European army."
Exactly my thoughts. Raising utterly false expectations -- among friends and enemies of an "ever closer union" -- is damaging for Europe.
