France ‘humiliated’ by AUKUS says former US ambassador

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The European Union has been left out in the cold in the new transatlantic pact, with France in particular feeling the sting as a security deal with Australia was torn up to get Aukus over the line. Now, the EU is considering developing a brand new military force with the potential to intervene in security matters without relying on NATO or Aukus, with heavy prompting from Western allies. So what is the military situation in the bloc as it stands?

How much military strength does the EU have?

The current defence and crisis management branch of the EU falls under the umbrella of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Military missions are carried out by EU forces in the CSDP, established with secondments from member states’ armed forces.

The CSDP is made up of national armed forces – civilian and military contributions from member states – as well as naval, land and air forces, with contributions of varying sizes from member states.

Member states also contribute to the expenditure, with 1.4 percent of the European GDP contributed in 2018 – equalling €223.4 billion.

However, the EU has previously admitted that, as things stand, it lacks the ability to become a standalone military force able to help NATO or deploy troops at short notice to help regional crises.

A review in 2020 revealed that only 60 percent of the national troops and weapons nominally available to NATO from the EU are in a fit state to be deployed.

EU governments are also reluctant to deploy those troops, the report found.

Formal EU military missions receive just seven percent of all EU states’ military personnel committed worldwide, with problems generating troop levels, it said.

The report concluded: “The EU does not have all the required military capabilities available in order to fulfil (its) level of ambition.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters: “European defence suffers from fragmentation, duplication and insufficient operational engagement.”

After the report, powerful EU governments including France and Germany hoped the review would amount to some change.

In the wake of the Aukus snub, the pressure is on the for EU to show it is a major layer in more than just the economic field, but the military one, too.

Iratxe García, president of the Socialists and Democrats group, told Politico: “The AUKUS case is just another example of the EU’s urgent need to build its own strategic autonomy, also in the military field.”

This week, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said a new EU force could be “part of the solution”.

Ms von der Leyen said it “is time for Europe to step up to the next level” by developing an EU military to replace the existing CSDP.

She added that the shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan showed that the bloc needed the “political will” to intervene without a US-led NATO.

There are those on both sides of the debate within the EU.

Speaking on the concept in 2018, Angela Merkel said: “This is not an army against Nato, it can be a good complement to Nato.”

The German chancellor argued that the bloc could no longer “rely on others”.

She added: “Us Europeans need to take our destiny in our own hands if we want to survive as a union.”

Other European leaders who have advocated for such an army have included Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italy’s former PM Silvio Berlusconi, Czech President Milos Zeman and former Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka.

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