Military of the European Union

The European Union does not consider itself a state, but there are a number of multi-national military and peacekeeping forces which are ultimately under the command of the EU. An early attempt (1952) to form a European Defence Community failed, but since then many politicians, including Guy Verhofstadt and Nicolas Sarkozy, promised to create a European military. As many of the 27 EU member states are also members of NATO, some EU states cooperate on defense policy (collective security) albeit primarily through NATO rather than through the EU or aligned group (such as the Western European Union). However, the memberships of the EU, WEU, and NATO are distinct, and some EU member states are constitutionally committed to remain neutral on defence issues. Several of the new EU member states were formerly members of the Warsaw Pact.

The EU currently has a limited mandate over defence issues, with a role to explore the issue of European defence agreed to in the Amsterdam Treaty, as well as oversight of the Helsinki Headline Goal Force Catalogue (the 'European Rapid Reaction Force') processes. However, some EU states may and do make multilateral agreements about defence issues outside of the EU structures.

Co-operation

The EU primarily acts through its Common Foreign and Security Policy, though Denmark has an opt-out from this and some states are limited by neutrality issues. As a result forces under EU command have been for peacekeeping, in which European states have a great deal of experience.

See also the European Security and Defence Policy.

If all the member states' annual spending was taken as a bloc the figure would amount to over $292.7 billion, second only to the US military's $518 billion.^[1] However the cumulative effect is much less than it seems due to duplication of capacities in individual militaries. There have been efforts to overcome this with joint projects such as the Eurofighter and through joint procurement of equipment.

For example:

1) There are several European tank versions (e.g. Leclerc, ERC-90, AMX-30, Challenger-2, Leopard-2, Ariete-C1, PT-91, T-72CZ), but the US military uses only one tank version.

2) There are several European IFV versions (e.g. FV530, AMX-10P, Jaguar-2, Puma), but the US military uses only one IFV version.

Recent developments

The new Treaty of Lisbon will merge a number of elements of the Western European Union (WEU) into the European Union, but not completely disestablish the WEU. It also says that:

'The common security and defence policy shall include the progressive framing of a common defence policy. This will lead to a common defence, when the European Council, acting unanimously, so decides'. (TEU, Article 27) ^[2]

British ministers initially objected to this clause. They wrote 'We believe that the European Council will not make that decision anytime soon. It is therefore inappropriate for the Treaty to pre-judge the decision of the European Council.' However, British ministers later gave way.

On 23 March, 2007, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country held the EU presidency at that time, gave an interview in celebration of the EU's fiftieth birthday, in which she expressed the desire for a unified EU army.^[3]

On 14 July 2007 French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called on the EU to create a unified military; soldiers from all 27 EU countries marched through the Champs-Elysees as part of that year's Bastille Day celebrations on the invitation of Sarkozy.^[4]

Deployment

In 2004 EU countries took over leadership of the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina from NATO through the European Union Force (EUFOR). The mission was given the branding of an EU initiative as the EU sponsored the force to further the force's image of legitimacy. There have been other deployments such as in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recently the European High Representative for Foreign Policy Javier Solana has indicated the EU could send troops to Georgia, perhaps alongside Russian forces.^[5]

See pages of individual forces below for details or Overseas interventions of the European Union.

Military forces and groups

• EUFOR Althea (peacekeeping force composed of 7,000 troops stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• European Union Force - the title used for EU peacekeeping deployments, which have included Bosnia/Hercegovina in 2002-, Chad/CAR, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Eurocorps (independent military force composed of 60,000 troops that can be deployed for various missions)
• Eurofor (rapid reaction force under command of the Western European Union)
• European Gendarmerie Force (crisis intervention force composed of 900 personnel, with 2,300 additional personnel that can be deployed as reinforcements)
• Helsinki Headline Goal (listing of rapid reaction forces composed of 60,000 troops managed by the European Union, but under control of the countries who deliver troops for it)
• European Union Battlegroups (closest thing to an EU military, composed of 15 battlegroups, each one numbering 1,500 troops)
• European Union Military Staff (supervises military operations carried out by the EU; its chief is General Henri Bentegeat, a former chief of the French Defence Staff)
• Euromarfor

Actors, agencies and policies

• Common Foreign and Security Policy
• European Council
• European Defence Agency
• European Security and Defence Identity
• European Security and Defence Policy
• European Union Institute for Security Studies
• North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• Western European Union

Defence Budgets of Member States

Rank	Country		Defence Budget (USD)
Total	Image:Flag of Europe.svg	EU	292,700,000,000
1		UK	68,136,000,000
2		France	65,370,000,000
3		Germany	52,100,000,000
4		Italy	32,093,537,000
5		Spain	15,792,207,000
6		Netherlands	10,369,920,000
7		Poland	9,650,500,000
8		Greece	7,648,561,000
9		Sweden	6,309,137,714
10		Belgium	3,999,000,000
11		Portugal	3,497,800,000
12		Denmark	3,271,600,000
13		Romania	2,900,000,000
14		Finland	2,800,000,000
15		Austria	2,334,900,000
16		Czech Republic	2,170,000,000
17		Slovakia	1,408,000,000
18		Ireland	1,300,000,000
19		Hungary	1,080,000,000
20		Bulgaria	730,000,000
21		Cyprus	384,000,000
22		Slovenia	370,000,000
23		Luxembourg	231,600,000
24		Lithuania	230,800,000
25		Estonia	155,000,000
26		Latvia	87,000,000
27		Malta	44,640,000

All figures are from the List of countries and federations by military expenditures

Size of European militaries

This is a list of European Union/EFTA/Candidate countries sorted by the total number of active troops where the military manpower of a country is measured by the total amount of active troops within the command of that country. Reserved forces which can aid a depleted active military and/or paramilitary are also listed to illustrate a country's total manpower.

Rank		Nation	Active Service Personnel	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
1		France	359,085[6]	419,000 [7]	0 [8]	780,085	4.27
2		Germany	250,500[9]	358,650[10]	40,000[11]	683,150	3.45
3		Italy	309,000[12]	0 [12]	238,800[13]	547,800	3.42
4		United Kingdom	187,970[14]	38,860[14]	0[14]	421,830	3.09
5		Spain	177,950[15]	328,500[15]	72,600[16]	579,050	3.49
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
6		Greece	177,600[17]	291,000[17]	4,000[17]	472,600	16.60
7		Poland	163,000[18]	234,000[18]	21,300[18]	418,300	4.23
8		Romania	75,000[19]	0[19]	79,900[19]	173,519	4.31
9		Czech Republic	57,050[20]	0[20]	5,600[21]	62,650	5.57
10		Netherlands	53,130[22]	32,200[22]	3,300[23]	88,630	3.24
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
11		Bulgaria	51,000[24]	303,000[24]	34,000[24]	385,450	7.85
12		Portugal	44,900[25]	210,930[25]	25,600[26]	281,430	4.25
13		Belgium	40,800[27]	100,500[27]	0[27]	141,300	3.94
14		Finland	36,700[28]	485,000[28]	3,100[29]	524,800	5.17
15		Austria	34,600[30]	72,000[30]	N/A	106,600	4.23
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
16		Sweden	33,900[31]	262,000[31]	8,000[citation needed]	295,900	3.07
17		Hungary	33,400[32]	90,300[32]	12,000[33]	135,700	3.31
18		Norway	27,600[34]	219,000[34]	29,400	276,000	5.79
19		Slovakia	26,200[35]	20,000[35]	4,700[36]	50,900	4.05
20		Denmark	22,880[37]	64,900[37]	61,500[37]	149,280	4.24
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
21		Croatia	21,200[38]	12000[38]	None[39]	33,200	6.63
22		Lithuania	13,510[40]	309,200[40]	14,390[40]	33,100	3.53
23		Switzerland	12,900[41]	320,600[41]	23,270[41]	347,470	47.90
24		Republic of Macedonia	12,850[42]	60,000[42]	7,600[42]	80,450	6.28
25		Republic of Ireland	10,500[43]	14,000[43]	0[43]	24,500	5.78
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens
26		Cyprus	10,000[44]	60,000[44]	750[44]	70,750	12.80
27		Slovenia	9,000[45]	20,000[45]	4,500[46]	33,500	1.21
28		Estonia	5,700[47]	39,000[47]	11,000[47]	55,700	4.13
29		Latvia	5,500[48]	14,050[48]	3,200[48]	22,750	2.13
30		Malta	2,140[49]	0[49]	0[49]	2,140	5.37
31		Luxembourg	900[50]	0[50]	612[50]	1,512	1.92
Rank		Nation	Active Troops	Reserve Force	Paramilitary	Total	Active troops per thousand citizens

• Approximate Figures
• Source of active duty information: Center for Strategic and International Studies 2006 and Jaffa Center of Strategic Studies
• Source of population information: List of countries by population

References

See also

• European Union Association Agreement
• Council of the European Union
• European Defence Community
• History of the European Union
• Three pillars of the European Union
• European Aeronautic Defence and Space
• BAE Systems

External links

• European Defence Agency - official website
• European Defence (NGO) - independent information on EU military capabilities
• A European regiment in EU battle groups: The presentation of the Eurocorps-Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003

de:Europaarmee

pl:Polityka bezpieczeństwa Unii Europejskiej