Whatever Mogherini wants to label it, be it a ‘rapid reaction force’ or some sort of defensive military aparatus, it’s still a European Army. Great Britain’s departure has left no more obstacles in the way for the Brussels-Berlin axis. If you recall, Dutch paratroopers are now under German command.
Federica Mogherini
The HQ proposal is one of four “priority” proposals she will present to European Union governments in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the bloc, she told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published Thursday.
While insisting she was not proposing an EU army, Mogherini said Britain’s impending departure had left other EU governments with no excuse for not moving forward on giving the EU a defence capacity, a goal long-cherished by Euro federalists but resisted by London.
Mogherini said existing multi-national rapid reaction units — which she described as battlegroups — had to be put into action.
“We can and we must decide to make them an asset to be used when we need a rapid European intervention,” said the former Italian foreign minister.
The second priority would be to use Article 44 of the EU’s founding treaties, allowing a smaller group of countries to organise military action on behalf of the whole bloc.
The third was the creation of “a common headquarters in Brussels that would run all present and future military and civilian operations,” Mogherini said.
“This could become the nucleus around which a common European defence structure could be built.”
Mogherini said the fourth priority had to be European governments “pooling resources for the gigantic investments needed in the defence sector.”
Full article: EU foreign policy chief wants Brussels military HQ (Spacewar)
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