NATO comes out fighting..... against the new EU Army

When the EU-loving head of NATO condemns EU military plans you know it’s serious

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021

EU announces plans for new ‘First Entry Force’ of up to 20,000 troops, in addition to existing EU battalions

Last week the regular meetings of defence and foreign ministers took place separately in Slovenia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. The defence ministers announced that :-

“the experience from Afghanistan had revealed the need to accelerate the building of the EU's defence and military capabilities”.
“The EU must therefore strengthen its strategic autonomy by creating a first entry force capable of ensuring stability in the EU's neighbourhood.”

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, made a statement and responded to questions.

“Were we ready to send a mission to take control and secure the perimeter of Kabul airport? No. The Americans yes, we no. If we want to be able to act autonomously and not to be dependent on the choices made by others – even if these others are our friends and allies - then we have to develop our own capacities. And this is what - I think - we will be able to agree, and this is something that has to be built.”
“Afghanistan is a good example - very timely example - in order to mobilise the will of the Member States and understand that there is no other way to face the new situation than having the capacity to act by ourselves.”

Speaking of troop numbers for the new ’First Entry Force’, the EU’s de facto defence secretary said:

“No, it has never been in our mind to talk about 50,000. The real figure, the one that the military experts consider good enough in order to implement the new kind of missions that modern warfare requires is about this figure: 5,000.” [Note: Senior officials in Brussels are privately talking about 20,000 troops.]
- Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, 02 Sep 2021

The new 'First Entry Force' is on top of existing 'EU Battlegroups'

As a result of the level of disinformation from pro-EU politicians in the UK such as former LibDem leader Nick Clegg, the existence of all the EU military structures and EU command centres has been invisible to the British public.

Facts4EU.Org has published many reports on this subject. In order to keep this report as short as possible we will mention just one fact. The latest 'EU Battlegroup' (EUBG) formed in 2020 is German-led and consists of 6,600 soldiers from many EU countries. In addition there is an Italian-led EUBG. Many other EUBGs exist but are not considered to be 'on call'.

NATO comes out fighting against an EU Army

Pictured above: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg with Mr Borrell's predecessor Ms Mogherini

It can be no coincidence that the Secretary General of NATO, the former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg, then chose to give an interview to The Daily Telegraph's Sunday Political Editor, Edward Malnick (paywalled), published today, 05 Sep 2021. In the course of this interview Mr Stoltenberg gave the strongest repudiation yet seen from NATO of the EU’s military ambitions.

“I welcome more European efforts on defence but that can never replace Nato and we need to make sure that Europe and North America band together. Any attempt to weaken the bond between North America and Europe will not only weaken Nato, it will divide Europe.”
Secretary General of NATO, the former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg

In a not-very-subtle side-swipe at all the EU countries failing to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence, he added:

“This is partly about money – 80 per cent of our defence expenditure comes from non-EU allies...”
“Any attempt to establish parallel structures, duplicate the command structure - that will weaken our joint capability to work together because with scarce resources we need to prevent duplication and overlapping efforts.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

In pure money terms, the UK was by far the EU’s biggest spender on defence in 2019

The United Kingdom spent €46.9 bn on defence, according to the EU. This was:-
31% more than France
43% more than Germany
More than double Italy’s spending
Four times that of the Netherlands and Spain

The EU is developing its military plans without telling NATO

Finally, and despite the EU Commission constantly saying that they liaise with NATO all the time, the NATO Secretary General made a surprising announcement.

“The specific proposals have not been discussed in Nato, we have not seen any details.”

On the British role in Afghanistan specifically, Mr Stoltenberg said: “It is critical, and this is from the bottom of my heart, also to praise the United Kingdom and the efforts of British soldiers in conducting the evacuation. That was a massive undertaking.”

Observations

The slow, inexorable march of the EU Army

For years Facts4EU.Org has been publishing detailed reports on the EU’s military developments and ambitions. As far as we know, we have published more articles on this subject than Eurosceptic organisations specialising in defence. Many of the best of our reports on the subject of defence are contained in our Brexit Index.

Regular readers will know that we have been consistently critical of the EU-loving Mr Stoltenberg for ‘cosying up’ to Brussels during his tenure as NATO Secretary General. This is the former Norwegian Prime Minister who twice attempted to persuade the Norwegian people to join the EU. His efforts were resoundingly rejected each time.

For Mr Stoltenberg now to be so openly critical of the EU’s military ambitions is therefore even more shocking.

Can anyone seriously imagine the EU managing the Afghan evacuation?

The retreat from Afghanistan was chaotic enough as it was, with the regime crumbling in days rather than months, and huge quantities of military hardware - to say nothing of Afghans who had helped the British and Americans – being left behind.

That said, can anyone seriously imagine the EU having managed the retreat? We shudder at the thought. The only major military power left in the EU, now that the United Kingdom has left, is France. Even then, during the recent rescue effort for French colonies ravaged by a hurricane in the Caribbean, the French had to ask the RAF for help. Naturally the RAF flew to the rescue using its extra-large transport aircraft, as France did not possess any.

Yes, individual EU countries did evacuate people from Kabul in significant numbers, but these were far fewer than the overall number taken out by the Americans and the British.

There is a force which has kept the peace in Europe and has military capability – it’s called NATO

The problem in the EU is not that it doesn’t have a credible military. The individual EU countries have spent pitifully little on defence for decades. Step one is for EU countries to start spending the NATO minimum of 2% of GDP on defence – much more if they want to catch up. If they do that for about 25 years, they might get close to having forces to draw upon for any kind of serious military scenario.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to donate. Could this be you, today? Maybe you've been thinking about it, but just haven't got around to doing it? If so, let us reassure you. It's quick and easy and we use two highly secure payment providers. And we do NOT ask you for further donations if you donate once - we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us?

Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won't see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above, please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue - we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

[ Sources: EU Commission | EU 'External Action Service' | Slovenian government | The Daily Telegraph interview 05 Sep | NATO ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 05 Sep 2021

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 4

1. ste , Sunday, September 05, 2021, 08:45:

I suspect the EU army will be more like an enforcement force/stasi as the EU slowly slips into a dictatorship aided by the WOKE idiots and other gullible virtue gesturing empty headed folks !

2. Kevin Hagger , Sunday, September 05, 2021, 09:17:

Why does a trading block need an army hence its a dictorship not a trading block hence it needs an army

3. Frank Theo Potty , Monday, September 06, 2021, 06:48:

European countries predominantly don't pay their wack towards NATO so where are they going to find the money to fund this plan, a plan that gives a "trade" organisation a physical force. Stirings of the East India Company, wanting a physical ability to crush, force its policies where they are not wanted. This is becoming dangerous.

4. metoo , Monday, September 06, 2021, 16:12:

Of course they would. NATO's long-term vision requires that America maintain one foot in Eurasia at any given time.
If a European force were to emerge, they'd be second fiddle. The business of defence is business.
Brexit & the shambolic abandonment of Afghanistan made the EU realise they need they're own army - or at least it helped justify it.
We can't even do anything about it from outside the EU - best suck it up for now.
Can't say it's a bad thing for the region - London is awash in Russian money while a geopolitical nightmare is unfolding in the M.E.
China, Russia, Pakistan & Iran must be beaming with joy. Someone has to counter their advance.
Good job guys.

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.