TONY BLAIR delivered a forceful rebuff to Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian Prime Minister, yesterday after he called for the creation of a European army... Mr Verhofstadt wrote to Mr Blair calling for “bold new steps in EU military integration” to counter what he called “a risk of renationalisation of defence policies”. He said that the EU should include a mutual security guarantee in its proposed constitution. An EU military base should be put in charge of all multinational forces in the 15-nation bloc.
BRITAIN is set to commit much greater military might to the "Euro army" than was previously expected, it has emerged... Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, has insisted that the European force, which is supposed to be operational in 2003, will complement Nato and that any British troops and hardware will remain firmly under UK control.
A MILITARY academy would be set up to train troops for a 60,000- strong European army under proposals from Brussels. Dubbed Euro- Sandhurst by critics, it would take service personnel from the 15 existing European Union states and the 10 countries who will enter in 2004. The plan, to be published tomorrow, also foresees a council of defence ministers to take decisions, a common EU defence budget and an agency to buy equipment. European integrationists who back the plan want an EU army to have responsibilities extended from peacekeeping and crisis management to full-scale defence of Europe.
Mr Blair defended his decision to go along with more autonomy for the EU over defence policy during his talks two weeks ago with President Chirac of France and Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor. Mr Blair insisted on two key conditions: that troops would be deployed under the auspices of the EU only when Nato as a whole chose not to be involved, and that it had to be the sovereign choice of each nation to decide to participate. “In other words there is no such concept called a European army,” he said
The Times has learnt that Britain will propose the creation of a dedicated EU military "planning cell" to strengthen Europe's defence capability. It will be based in Nato's military headquarters in Mons to avoid undermining the 50 year-old alliance. The move is Britain's opening shot in what is expected to be a bitter battle this autumn with France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, which have formed a breakaway group to press ahead with plans for an autonomous European force.
THE German defence minister has raised the prospect of all armed forces in the European Union, including those of Britain, being put under the control of the European parliament in Brussels. Peter Struck said that "no step along the path of EU military integration would be unthinkable for Germany". "We are good Europeans and have nothing to fear over the issue of national sovereignty within integrated European military structures. It is rather Britain and France that have taboos over these issues and that is what we are working around."
The German military high command wants to create a fully fledged European army that would report to a European Union government and be financed by the European Parliament, documents obtained by the Tories show. "Consequently, a European army legitimised and financed by the European Parliament is the visionary goal of Germany policy." It adds: "The European army should have joint structures that go beyond the ones already in place. Therefore there is a need for a joint defence system, common legislation and standardisation." Assuming that a fully fledged EU government would have been set up within about 10 years, it adds: "The army would report to the EU government and to the EU Parliament. Through a deployment law Parliament should decide if deploying troops is an option or not."
Britain has taken a dramatic step towards a fully-fledged European army, signing up to Franco-German proposals for a planning headquarters outside Nato, it emerged yesterday. The deal reached by British, German and French officials in secret talks in Berlin this week establishes an "operational" command in Brussels, allowing the EU to run day-to-day battlefield missions for the first time... The French newspaper Le Monde quoted chunks of the deal yesterday, reporting that it would start as a skeleton body and would also handle humanitarian missions. It said the unit would be "a European military headquarters in all but name".
BRITAIN is to commit more than 2,000 troops to a new 18,000-strong European Union army that will be deployed as a peacekeeper to the world’s trouble spots... The force — which would comprise the rapid-reaction units in an EU army that supporters want to expand to 60,000 — is already prompting some concerns that it could duplicate the role of Nato.
David Cameron has blocked plans for European Union owned military forces and told a summit of Europe's leaders that Nato is the "bedrock" of defence in Europe. The Prime Minister has told a Brussels summit that there can be no question of British support for proposals from Baroness Ashton [the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] and the European Commission for the EU to run its own military. Britain has blocked EU proposals, backed by France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany, that would have paved the way for developing a new fleet of unmanned surveillance drones and a European Air Force comprised of heavy transport and air-to-air refuelling planes.
The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told a German newspaper that an EU army would let the Continent “react credibly to threats to peace in a member state or a neighbour of the EU”. It would “help us to develop a common foreign and security policy, and to fulfil Europe’s responsibilities in the world”, Mr Juncker told Welt am Sonntag. The Nato military alliance, currently the cornerstone of European defence, was not a sufficient protection for the EU because not all EU members were part of the alliance, he added.
[The German Chancellor] Angela Merkel will expect David Cameron to drop his opposition to an EU army in exchange for supporting Britain’s renegotiation, the Telegraph has been told. The German chancellor will ask Britain to stand aside as she promotes an ambitious blueprint to integrate continental Europe’s armed forces. The Telegraph has seen an unpublished position paper drawn up by Europe and Defence policy committees of Mrs Merkel’s party, the CDU, that sets out a detailed 10-point plan for military co-operation in Europe. It is understood to closely reflect her thinking, and calls for a permanent EU military HQ, combined weapons procurement and a shared military doctrine. “In the long run, this process should according to the present German coalition agreement lead also to a European Army subject to Parliamentarian control.”
The European Union’s first paramilitary force would have the power to take control of a nation’s borders without the consent of sovereign governments under plans to shore up defences against an influx of migrants. Proposals for a 2,500-strong border and coastguard corps could see armed German personnel sent to Greece or the Balkans, where memories of the Second World War are still raw, to seal frontiers and register refugees. The force, wearing blue armbands and an EU and agency insignia, would be equipped with naval patrol vessels, helicopters and drones, according to plans tabled yesterday by Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president.
A prototype “Euro army” conducted war games in Britain last week amid claims that the exercise was hushed up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) because of the European Union referendum... A senior army officer said a “super low-key” media strategy was put in place for the war games because of the proximity of the referendum.