EU army now inevitable says Germany as several members pledge to strengthen military ties
ONE of Germany’s most senior defence officials said an EU Army is inevitable.
Hans-Peter Bartels became the latest to urge NATO’s EU members to organise their militaries into a single force.
It came on the day the UK government – vehemently opposed to the move – formally began Brexit divorce talks.
Ardent Europhile Nick Clegg in 2014 slammed the idea was a “dangerous fantasy that is simply not true”.
But Mr Bartels – Germany’s national defence commissioner - said: “In the end there will be a European army.”
He said: ““We are currently disorganised, technically fragmented and duplicate structures unnecessarily.
“We do not want to go down the solitary national path any more. Not in Germany, not in the Netherlands, not in the Czech Republic and not in Italy.”
“Every step in the right direction is important,” Mr Bartels said.
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In February this year, defence ministers from Germany, Romania and the Czech Republic signed a deal to deepen defence ties. As part of the agreement, brigades from both Romania and the Czech Republic were seconded to a German-led multinational division.
Last month, European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker admitted plans for an EU wide army after it emerged France and Germany were behind a joint defence fund to pay for drones and robots.
The Brussels bureaucrat said the military force would add “additional weight to the European policy and security policy”.