ClaretAndJew wrote:How would it legally be enforceable, country by country, to create an "EU Army"?
There would have to be years and years of negotiations, justifications, financial understanding etc.
I just can't see how it could logically be conceived.
surely you work out a budget, for numerous years in terms of what it will take to get to the point of actually having an EU army, plus back up plans defining who provides what sum to the formation of the budget as a percentage. Present it in bite size chunks, 2016 through to 2019, then 2020 to 2022 and 2022 t0 2025 with the aim to have the EU Army ready by 2025. The budget defines what they will do to get to the end game bit by bit, cooperation/security/technology etc.
I personally can see advantages to having one budget versus 27, synergies can be achieved, some countries would see much more modern deterrents in the form of ships/airplanes etc than they have now and would have in 10 years time.
While I see the advantages I can also see someone like Estonia thinking, ok I save money, we have an army/navy etc. We get threatened and in the extreme if we were invaded can I trust the EU to protect me the same as I would try to protect myself, this is where it gets tricky and involves a lot of trust in the other 26 members.
From what I have seen it appears 25 have signed up to budgets to move forward in some areas already, obviously not in the actual formation of an army all in the same uniform with the same arms available, but it certainly smells like the long term aim of the EU to me.
NOTE: I am not saying it is a good or bad thing either way