Our Goal Is An EU Army Says Germany's Defense Chief

By Jack Doyle

An EU army is Germany’s ‘long term goal’ according to one of its ministers. Ursula von der Leyen called for defence cooperation to be strengthened so that the continent can respond quickly to international crises. But her comments will raise fears the German government will back the call by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for an EU-wide fighting force.

In March, Mr Juncker said the EU needed its own army to address the claim that it is not ‘taken entirely seriously’ on the international stage.

He said such a move would help send a message to Russia that the EU was serious about defending its values. Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband have insisted they will not sign Britain up to an EU army. Miss von der Leyen made her remarks following a meeting with her Dutch counterpart in The Hague last week.

She spelled out her wishes for a continental force capable of reacting swiftly to a situation anywhere in the world.She said: ‘The European Army is our long-term goal’ she said ‘but first we have to strengthen the European Defense Union.

‘The United States also wants us Europeans as a powerful force within NATO.’

‘To achieve this, some nations with concrete military cooperation must come to the fore - and the Germans and the Dutch are doing this.’

‘The Ebola crisis alone, or the attack of ISIS on the Yazidi has shown that Europe must be more flexible and have faster access anywhere in the world in the event of a crisis.

‘Well-rehearsed structures within a European Defence Union could help to shorten coordination processes and speed up the help that is needed.’

She added: ‘All over Europe we will need to invest more if our alliances can reliably take responsibility. ’She insisted such a project remained a long-term goal and would ‘probably only be something that my children would experience.’

In March Mr Juncker expressed his desire to build a Euro-Army to be commanded by Brussels. He said: ‘Such an army would help us to build a common foreign and security policy, as well as jointly assume the responsibilities of Europe in the world.’

He has insisted any Euro Army would not be in competition with NATO. ‘Rather a European army would bring an intensive cooperation in the development and the purchase of military equipment and bring substantial savings,’ said the former Luxembourg prime minister.

‘You would not create a European army to use it immediately,’ Juncker told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. ‘But a common army among the Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union.’

David Cameron has repeatedly insisted that Britain would ‘never support’ any form of EU army.

In response to Mr Juncker’s comments, a government spokesman said: ‘Our position is crystal clear that defence is a national, not an EU, responsibility and that there is no prospect of that position changing and no prospect of a European army.’

During a TV election debate between party leaders last month, Ed Miliband denied accusations from Nigel Farage that a Labour government would ‘sign up to an EU army’.