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My first reaction when French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that the European Union needed its own army to defend against potential adversaries — including the United States — was to suggest he go to Normandy and ask the 9,000 dead Americans there who saved France, for the second time, what they thought about the idea. But, I’m sure he won’t do that.
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Here we have a situation where most European powers have not spent what they should on their own defense, preferring to rely on American power and the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Germany, one of the most productive economies in the world, can barely fly a handful of its own fighter jets, spending a paltry 1.2 percent of GDP on its military. France is a little better, spending 1.8 percent on defense.
Yet now the leader of one of the great Western powers, who can’t even defend his own country properly, is calling for exponentially more spending on a new European army. Is Mr. Macron going to sacrifice the vaunted French welfare state and its luxuriously short work week to fund his dream?
It makes one wonder what Mr. Macron’s real agenda is. Is it really the national security of the French republic? Or, more ominously, is it some nebulous, globalist dream to further drain the nationalist blood from French citizens?
I think it is the latter.
The governments of France, Germany, Sweden and others obviously don’t really care about the well-being and security of their own peoples. If that had been the true priority for these globalist politicians, then they would not have admitted millions of economic migrants from North Africa and the Middle East to undermine the culture and safety of Western Europe.
The “European Army” is simply another vehicle to take sovereignty away from the people and give it to the bureaucrats in Brussels. What is a country if it has delegated the ability to defend itself to someone else? Obviously these nations can’t support two militaries. So, the European Army will have to be drawn from existing forces.
I know one thing for sure: If I were a citizen of Italy or Greece, say, I sure wouldn’t want to depend on Brussels to protect my borders and prevent invasions of migrants or anyone else.
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Think of the cost Mr. Macron’s dream would require. An all-new, shiny headquarters and a new command structure will be needed. The European administrative “deep state” would gorge on a feast of taxpayer dollars.
There are more sinister consequences. What if pesky Greece, Italy or some other unappreciative EU member decides it does not want to follow the dictates of Brussels? Currently, the only thing that the EU can do is threaten legal action, impose fines or withhold grant money.
But, oh, what if Brussels had an army? Those irritating “periphery” countries might want to rethink their opposition.
And what if Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic escalated its resistance to Brussels when it comes to admitting migrants on their territory, fearing it will destroy their culture and security? Why, send in the army and make them behave!
The European Union is a globalist dream, one that very nearly came to the United States under President Obama. The last thing the sovereign countries of the EU need is to be threatened with the leviathan of an armed force controlled by Brussels and not by their own, democratically elected leaders.
If Europe is going to survive, it needs a whole lot more nationalism and a whole lot less globalism. Europe should kill Mr. Macron’s army idea before the liberals get too excited about the possibilities.
Originally posted at The Washington Times
