EU’s post-Brexit dreams include a common Army

Eastern EU countries on Friday pushed for the bloc to create a joint Army as they met with Germany for talks on sketching Europe’s post-Brexit future.

“We must prioritise security, and let’s start by building a common European Army,” Hungary’s rightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at talks with Czech, German, Polish and Slovak leaders.

The five-nation gathering in Warsaw is part of a string of meetings among various countries ahead of an informal summit on EU’s future after Britain’s exit in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on September 16.

The summit will go ahead without Britain.

Leftist Czech Premier Bohuslav Sobotka said, “We should begin a discussion about creating a common European Army.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also supported the idea but urged caution on how plans were translated into acts.

“Brexit is not just any event, it’s a breaking point in the history of EU so we need to work out a very careful response Security is a fundamental issue... we can do more together in the areas of security and defence,” she said.

In an early response to Brexit, Poland’s powerful rightwing leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski called for EU institutional reforms that would forge a confederation of nation-states under a President in charge of a common military.

However, the concept of a common Army is a thorny issue within the EU. All five EU countries at Warsaw talks are also members of the 28-member Nato Western defence alliance.

But six of the EU’s 27 post-Brexit membership do not belong to NATO: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta and Sweden.

EU leaders from 27 states meet on September 16 in the Slovak capital of Bratislava for an informal summit that will go ahead without Britain.