The Worrisome EU Defense Union
In 2016, the EU put forward a new vision and a new plan for a “Defense Union”. The proposals are supported mainly by France and Germany – Europe’s most notable military powers. France and Germany are also the two major continental contributors to NATO’s defense system. Presently, both of these European states look for a more substantial “European defense” structure by and for Europeans, but certainly not excluding NATO. While the French loudly claim that the current EU proposal was initially a French one, the German side has more interest in its success. The team of France and Germany is mainly an alliance of common pragmatic interests rather than of a common political will. Germany’s defense industry is in a better situation, while the French one is hindered by the country’s stagnating economy (i.e., the French deficit issue due to EU’s macroeconomic governance requirements). More