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Military of the European Union

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 68.164.4.102 (talk) at 22:57, 28 July 2009 (The Ukraine is NOT in the EU and won't be for the forseeable future. Only list ACTUAL EU nations here, not fantasies.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

At present, there is no military of the European Union, as the European integration has not developed very far in the area of defence. There have however been a number of defence initiatives, peacekeeping operations and organisations established in the context of the European Union (EU). The actual defence of the Union is the domain of individual Member States. Currently, closest to what can be called European Union military, is the rapid deployment force called European Union Battlegroups.

An early attempt to integrate the militaries of Western Europe, was the failed 1952 European Defence Community. But since then many politicians, including Guy Verhofstadt, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, promised to create a European military. As 24 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 groups (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.

Cooperation

Further information: European Security and Defence Policy

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.

The Eurofighter Typhoon; developed by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Map showing European membership of the EU and NATO

If all the member states' annual spending was taken as a bloc the figure would amount to over $311 billion, second only to the US military's $713 billion.[1] However the cumulative effect is much less than it seems due to duplication of capacities in individual militaries.[citation needed] 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, Leopard 2, AMX-30, Challenger 2, Ariete-C1,Centauro,PT-91, T-72CZ).
2) There are several European IFV versions (e.g. AMX-10P, ASCOD AFV, Puma, Puma (AFV), CV90, Dardo IFV, Warrior tracked armoured vehicle).

Recent developments

The new Treaty of Lisbon, if ratified, plans 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-Élysées as part of that year's Bastille Day celebrations on the invitation of Sarkozy.[4]

On 20 Feb 2009 the European Parliament voted yes to create Synchronized Armed Forces Europe (SAFE) as a first step towards a true European military force. SAFE will be directed by an EU directorate, with its own training standards and operational doctrine. There are also plans to create an EU "Council of Defence Ministers" and "a European statute for soldiers within the framework of Safe governing training standards, operational doctrine and freedom of operational action".[5]

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.[6]

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

Military forces and groups

Actors, agencies and policies

Member States' military spending

US$ billion
The hypothetically combined EU military
budget compared to foreign military powers.
Country Defence Budget (USD) Military expenditures as % of GDP Date of % information
France France 61,571,330,000 2.6 2005 est
United Kingdom UK 61,280,890,000 2.4 2005 est
Germany Germany 45,930,000,000 1.5 2005 est
Italy Italy 40,060,000,000 1.8 2005 est
Spain Spain 15,792,207,000 1.2 2005 est
Netherlands Netherlands 12,000,000,000 1.6 2005 est
Poland Poland 11,791,000,000 1.71 2005 est
Greece Greece 7,648,561,000 4.3 2005 est
Sweden Sweden 6,309,137,714 1.5 2005 est
Belgium Belgium 4,000,000,000 1.3 2005 est
Portugal Portugal 3,497,800,000 2.3 2005 est
Denmark Denmark 3,271,600,000 1.5 ?
Romania Romania 2,900,000,000 1.9 2007 est
Finland Finland 2,800,000,000 2 2005 est
Austria Austria 2,334,900,000 0.9 2005 est
Czech Republic Czech Republic 2,170,000,000 1.46 2007 est
Slovakia Slovakia 1,408,000,000 1.87 2005 est
Hungary Hungary 1,376,000,000 1.75 2005 est
Bulgaria Bulgaria 1,339,000,000 2.6 2005 est
Republic of Ireland Ireland 1,300,000,000 0.9 2005 est
Latvia Latvia 672,356,045 1.2 2005 est
Lithuania Lithuania 490,800,000 1.2 ?
Estonia Estonia 487,049,967 2 2005 est
Cyprus Cyprus 384,000,000 3.8 2005 est
Slovenia Slovenia 370,000,000 1.7 2005 est
Luxembourg Luxembourg 231,600,000 0.9 2005 est
Malta Malta 44,640,000 0.7 2006 est
European Union EU combined 312,259,000,000 0.7-4.3 2005-2007 est

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 Status Active Service Personnel Reserve Force Paramilitary Total Active troops/
1000 citizens 		Tanks Combat aircraft Transport aircraft
1 France France EU member 259,050[7] 419,000 [8] 101,400 [9] 779,450 4.27 1021 482[10] 147[10]
2 Germany Germany EU member 210,500[11] 302,500[12] 45,050[13] 558,000 3.45 1874 371[14] 176[14]
3 Italy Italy EU member 240,000[15] 68,000 [15] 238,800[16] 546,800 3.42 1180 460[14] 176[14]
4 United Kingdom United Kingdom EU member 206,480[17] 233,880[17] 0[17] 440,360 3.41 1175 562[18] 197[18]
5 Spain Spain EU member 177,950[19] 328,500[19] 72,600[20] 579,050 3.49 661 267[14] 110[14]
6 Greece Greece EU member 177,600[21] 291,000[21] 4,000[21] 472,600 16.60 1000 254[22] 35[22]
8 Poland Poland EU member 125,000[23] 234,000[23] 21,300[23] 418,300 4.23 1005 251[24] 87
9 Romania Romania EU member 90,000[25] 0[25] 79,900[25] 173,519 4.31 340 71 70
10 Serbia Serbia Potential EU candidate 74,500[26] 400,000[26] 40,000[26] 514,500 41 277 85 68
11 Czech Republic Czech Republic EU member 57,050[27] 0[27] 5,600[28] 62,650 5.57 179[29] 52[14] 71[14]
12 Netherlands Netherlands EU member 53,130[30] 32,200[30] 3,300[31] 88,630 3.24 119 115[14] 43[14]
14 Bulgaria Bulgaria EU member 51,000[32] 303,000[32] 34,000[32] 385,450 7.85 590 80[14] 46[14]
15 Belgium Belgium EU member 45,800[33] 100,500[33] 0[33] 146,300 3.94 132 68[14] 37[14]
16 Portugal Portugal EU member 44,900[34] 210,930[34] 25,600[35] 281,430 4.25 137 45 33
17 Finland Finland EU member 36,700[36] 485,000[36] 3,100[37] 524,800 5.17 124 63
18 Austria Austria EU member 34,600[38] 72,000[38] N/A 106,600 4.23 237 16 3
19 Sweden Sweden EU member 33,900[39] 262,000[39] 35,000[40] 295,900 3.07 280 166[14] 41[14]
20 Hungary Hungary EU member 33,400[41] 90,300[41] 12,000[42] 135,700 3.31 180 55[14] 30[14]
21 Norway Norway EFTA member 27,600[43] 219,000[43] 29,400 276,000 5.79 136 57[44] 26
22 Slovakia Slovakia EU member 26,200[45] 20,000[45] 4,700[46] 50,900 4.05 457 27 24
23 Denmark Denmark EU member 22,880[47] 64,900[47] 61,500[47] 149,280 4.24 57[48] 60 15
24 Croatia Croatia EU candidate 21,200[49] 12,000[49] 0[50] 33,200 6.63 200 12 28[14]
25 Lithuania Lithuania EU member 13,510[51] 309,200[51] 14,390[51] 33,100 3.53 2[52] 24[52]
26 Switzerland Switzerland EFTA member 12,900[53] 320,600[53] 23,270[53] 347,470 47.90 556 87
27 North Macedonia Republic of Macedonia EU candidate 12,850[54] 60,000[54] 7,600[54] 80,450 6.28 31[55] 10
28 Republic of Ireland Ireland EU member 10,500[56] 14,000[56] 0[56] 24,500 5.78 14[57] 0[14] 12[14]
29 Cyprus Cyprus EU member 10,000[58] 60,000[58] 750[58] 70,750 12.80 41[59] 12
30 Slovenia Slovenia EU member 9,000[60] 20,000[60] 4,500[61] 33,500 1.21 84 9 12
31 Estonia Estonia EU member 5,700[62] 220,000[63]/> 20,000[62] 245,700 4.13 0 0
32 Latvia Latvia EU member 5,500[64] 14,050[64] 3,200[64] 22,750 2.13 3 0 3[65]
33 Malta Malta EU member 2,140[66] 0[66] 0[66] 2,140 5.37 0 0
34 Luxembourg Luxembourg EU member 900[67] 0[67] 612[67] 1,512 1.92 0 0 3
35 Iceland Iceland EFTA member 260[68] 0[68] 20,000[68] 20,260 0.86 0 0 1
Totals 2,281,700 6,166,560 911,572 9,359,832 6.87 12,876 4,144 1,682
  • 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

See also

References

  1. ^ "European - United States Defence Expenditure in 2005" (HTML). EDA. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  2. ^ "Treaty of Lisbon". EU.
  3. ^ Merkel's European Army: More Than a Paper Tiger? by Peter C. Glover, World Politics Review, 2007-04-25.
  4. ^ EU military at Bastille Day celebration
  5. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/4689736/Blueprint-for-EU-army-to-be-agreed.html
  6. ^ Solana raises prospect of EU soldiers in Georgia EU Observer
  7. ^ III.pdf "Annuaire statistique de la Défense, p.47" (PDF). December 2006. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  8. ^ "French Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 112)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "French Paramilitary Forces, Tiscali Encyclopedia". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b French Military Aviation
  11. ^ "German Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 32)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "German Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 117)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "German Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 14)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 15 January 2007.
  15. ^ a b "Italian Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 124)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Italian Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 16)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ a b c "British Armed Forces, UK MoD (Page 59)" (PDF). 2006-09-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ a b British Military Aviation
  19. ^ a b "Spanish Military". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "Spanish Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ a b c "Greek Military". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ a b Greek Aircraft Inventory
  23. ^ a b c "Polish Military". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Polish Defence Ministry
  25. ^ a b c "Romanian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Romania" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  26. ^ a b c "Serbian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ a b "Czech Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 109)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ "Czech Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 11)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Czech Republic Equipment
  30. ^ a b "Dutch Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 127)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Uzbek Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ a b c "Bulgarian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Bulgaria" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  33. ^ a b c "Belgium Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  34. ^ a b "Portuguese Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ "Portuguese's Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 25)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ a b "Finnish Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ "Finland's Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 15)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. ^ a b "Austrian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. ^ a b "Swedish Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ "Bantat hemvärn får massiv kritik". 2008-05-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ a b "Hungarian Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 120)" (PDF). 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ "Hungarian Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 15)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. ^ a b "Norwegian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ [1]
  45. ^ a b "Slovak Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Slovakia" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  46. ^ "Slovakia Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 22)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  47. ^ a b c "Danish Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ Financial report for the Danish Military
  49. ^ a b "Croatian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  50. ^ "Croatian Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 10)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  51. ^ a b c "Lithuanian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  52. ^ a b Lithuanian Air Force
  53. ^ a b c "Swiss Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 139)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  54. ^ a b c "Macedonian Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  55. ^ Military of Macedonia
  56. ^ a b c "Ireland Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  57. ^ [2]
  58. ^ a b c "Cyprus Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  59. ^ JED Site
  60. ^ a b "Slovenia Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  61. ^ "Slovenia's Paramilitary Forces, ORBAT (Page 22)" (PDF). 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  62. ^ a b "Estonia Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  63. ^ [http://www.kmin.ee/enwiki/static/sisu/files/Aruanne2008.pdf Aruanne riigikaitsest osavõtu kohustuse ja kaitseväeteenistuskohustuse täitmise kohta riigis 2008. aastal]
  64. ^ a b c "Latvia Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  65. ^ Latvian Air Force
  66. ^ a b c "Malta Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  67. ^ a b c "Luxembourg Armed Forces". 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  68. ^ a b c "Iceland". 2009-05-5. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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