Macron's Push For EU Army Unlocks Eternal Debate About Need For 'Duplicate' Military Force

Macron's Push for EU Army Unlocks Eternal Debate About Need for 'Duplicate' Military Force

The idea of creating a European army, recently revived by French President Emmanuel Macron and swiftly backed by Berlin, has faced a harsh backlash from the United States, and sparked the eternal debate about the feasibility of establishing a "duplicate" military force for the bloc, which shares the majority of its members with NATO.

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) The idea of creating a European army, recently revived by French President Emmanuel Macron and swiftly backed by Berlin, has faced a harsh backlash from the United States, and sparked the eternal debate about the feasibility of establishing a "duplicate" military force for the bloc, which shares the majority of its members with NATO.

On November 6, in an interview with the Europe 1 radio station, Macron called for the establishment of a European army that would "protect" the union from China, Russia and the United States, stressing that the latter "has been seen as a less reliable ally" under the President Donald Trump administration.

"I call for a real European army, within the European Union. We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America ... Since the start of Trump's presidency, the US has been seen as a less reliable ally ... When I see President Trump announcing that he's quitting a major disarmament treaty which was formed after the 1980s euro-missile crisis that hit Europe, who is the main victim? Europe and its security," he said.

Macron added that he did "not want to see European countries increase their defense budget to buy US weapons," arguing that "we must build the autonomy of European defense," and therefore "we need more Europe."

SUPPORT FROM MERKEL, BACKLASH FROM TRUMP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel swiftly voiced her support for Macron's idea, adding that "the days when we could blindly count on others are over." Her stance may seem unexpected as she has always been a pacifist, dragging her feet over rising the defense budget.

"We have to take more of our own fate [in our hands] if we want to strengthen ourselves as a community. A common European army would show the world that between countries of the union, there would never be a war again, it would not be directed against NATO, but it would complement it without ever calling into question the link with the Atlantic alliance," Merkel said, addressing the European Parliament on Tuesday.

The chancellor also suggested that the European Union should get rid of the unanimity requirement for its foreign policy decisions. She also proposed setting up a "European Security Council" with a rotating presidency, so that important decisions can be made more quickly.

Merkel's statements came after Trump harshly slammed Macron's initiative, calling it "very insulting," and suggesting that "perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidizes greatly."

Paris then attempted to offset the damaging effect of its statements, with a senior French official noting that Trump took Macron's words "out of context," and adding that any EU military capabilities would be seen as complementary to NATO.

"The French leader did not mean he wanted a European army but only better coordination and funding of Europe's already-existing resources. He meant that Europe should organize better to protect itself. There is already a European defence project, and the president would like to see its capability increased. The president did not want a European army. He did not mean Europe should form an army. This is all complementary to NATO, not separate from it," the official said.

However, Macron's statements already provoked a wider response from Trump, who, in a series of angry tweets on Tuesday, attacked the idea once again, lambasted Paris for high import tariffs on wine, and personally attacked the French president. In particular, he cited his "very low" approval rating and lashed out his crisis of Trump's "nationalist" stances.

IS EUROPEAN ARMY FEASIBLE IDEA?

Along with a harsh response from the United States, Franco-German push for a European army also faced a backlash at home.

The reaction from Germany's opposition AfD party reflects the eternal debate within the bloc about whether it actually needs an autonomous military force, risking duplicating NATO structures and incurring unreasonable expenses.

"A European army is superfluous because we are already a member of a functioning defence alliance, NATO." Norway's 'Trident Juncture' maneuvers, involving more than 50,000 troops, has shown that, by pooling and adequately intensifying its defence efforts, NATO is well able to defend Europe without creating new, costly duplicate structures," AfD leader Alexander Gauland told Sputnik.

The AfD party therefore sees that proper contributions to the NATO budget would be a more reasonable investment in the European security.

"Instead we - in the AfD - call for the following: every sovereign state must make its proper contribution to the security of Europe. That is why every country, including Germany, has to fulfill its NATO alliance obligations and spend at least 2 percent of the gross domestic product on defense - for the security of Europe and Germany," he pointed out.

Gauland also described the European army idea as "obsolete" and suggested that Merkel just wanted to extend a helping hand to Macron, who faced a strong backlash from Trump.

"Merkel's wish for a 'European army' is therefore obsolete. She probably just wanted to give a little help to her friend Emmanuel Macron, who attacked Donald Trump, and got many angry tweets in response," he added.

A Belgian high-ranking military agreed that Merkel probably did not mean what she said.

"Mrs Merkel probably does not mean a word she said, but felt obliged to defend Emmanuel Macron, president of France, under attack, and rightly so, by Donald Trump for being a bad ally. What did Macron expect? He was the one to insult the US and its president," he told Sputnik on condition of anonymity.

FRANCO-GERMAN DUO JUST SEEKS TO 'SELL THEIR ARMS SYSTEMS' TO BLOC?

Pierre Henrot, a military expert from Brussels, in turn, suggested that the Franco-German push for a European army may be nothing but a bid "to sell their European arms systems to their fellow Europeans."

"The impression one has, listening successively to Macron and Merkel on defense, is that they try to sell their European arms systems to their fellow Europeans. There is nothing new in what they say. Nothing new since the proposal of the 'European Defence Community' (EDC) first presented in the 1960s! Merkel, like Macron, forgets that an army is not just planes and tanks. It is above all soldiers and officers. The European army should have a united pay system, a single rank and promotion system, the same discipline, etc," Henrot told Sputnik.

He recalled that "the European military gear is not even standardized, neither are the equipment and logistics."

It is noteworthy to add that Macron's statement also come as more and more European countries are opting for US F-35 Lightning II to re-equip their air fleets rather than Europe-made jets, while France and Germany are pushing the joint project for a new fighter jet.

Concerning Merkel's initiative to abandon the unanimity clause in foreign policy decisions, Henrot expressed doubt that it would meet wider support, except for within the Franco-German alliance itself.

"It is impossible that 'small' countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal or Finland would accept to see their foreign policy in the hands of the European Commission or the [proposed] European Security Council! Mrs Merkel is daydreaming, or rather, she has never had any real intention of pushing such a policy. She simply pays lip service to the French-German alliance, supposedly the backbone of Europe. With such proposals there is no chance that they will be followed by the smaller countries, especially if the populist wave becomes bigger in May next year," Henrot argued.

UNSUCCESSFUL BID TO PURSUE DE GAULLE'S NON-ALIGNMENT

Jean-Frederic Poisson, a French lawmaker from the Christian Democratic Party, who also sought a nomination in the 2016 presidential race, described Macron's policy of promoting a European army as "bad diplomacy," which was predictably met with "deep dissatisfaction" in the United States.

Macron's push was actually another unsuccessful attempt to follow in footsteps of French President Charles de Gaulle, which however turned out to be less classy and thoughtful, Poisson suggested, citing Macron's diplomacy during the Armistice Day events as an example.

"On November 11, president Macron honored the president of Kosovo, a mafia state invented by the European Union with Clinton's blessing at the time. The Serbian president was very badly treated, even though the Serbs were our allies at the time of the First World War, probably because they are pro-Russian. There is in this dual treatment of Trump and the Serbs a message, in my opinion, of non-alignment sent to the whole world. However, de Gaulle's non-alignment was more classy, certainly more thoughtful and far. So again, this is a terrible consequence of Macron's bad diplomacy this weekend," Poisson told Sputnik.

According to Poisson, as a result of "immature diplomacy," relations between France and the United States experience "a strong weakening," while nobody is interested in the current tensions.

"Relations between our countries are sinuous and variable ... To say that the Americans are always our allies is not certain. To say that they always defend our interests is not sure at all either. Nevertheless, nobody has interest in this tension between what remain the two largest armies of the Western world. Even though ours is much smaller than the [one of] Americans, it is a reality that we are the last in Europe to have a projection force that allows us to serve the world. The United States is in the same position as us with, of course, more important means," he said.

Gilles Lebreton, the head of the French National Rally (RN) party's delegation in the European Parliament, similarly criticized Macron's conduct during the November 11 World War One commemoration events, which according to him, was actually a personal affront against Trump.

"If the November 11 ceremony had taken place on US soil, the American president would not have invited a strident political opponent to sing in front of the French president. Yet this is what Emmanuel Macron did to Trump, by inviting this African singer who is one of the leaders of the anti-Trump movement in the United States. The French authorities also authorized anti-Trump demonstrations on the same day of November 11 in Paris."

According to Lebreton, it was an "unbearable sign of lack of respect for the American president," which was then topped with "the ridiculous declarations" of Macron, in an interview with the US media, concerning the European army and relations with the United States.