The United Kingdom will oppose any plans to merge European forces into a European Union army, according to the British Minister of Defense.
Germany and France made the case Tuesday for a common European defense strategy to be presented at a summit in December. The idea is to have common structures, joint headquarters and shared assets among EU members. (RELATED: Here’s Germany’s Plan For The European Defense Union)
Most EU countries are already part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). British Minister of Defense Michael Fallon said the U.K. will “continue to oppose any idea of an EU army or an EU army headquarters which would simply undermine NATO.”
“There are member states who would like to see … a single set of forces. That looks and sounds to me like a European army, and we would oppose that,” Fallon told reporters. “Europe is littered with HQs, what we don’t need is another one.”
Germany and France hoped the Brits would stay out of the EU army debate since the country is set to leave the union within the next few years. The final “Brexit” will likely not happen until 2019 at the earliest, and the U.K. enjoys full voting rights as long as it’s a member.
The German and French defense ministers stressed that each country would still have its military force, and that an EU army won’t have a collective uniform.
“On the contrary, it is about bundling the various strengths of European countries to be ready to act together quickly,” Germany’s Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
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