LE September 12, 1950, during a meeting with his French and English counterparts, the American secretary of state Dean Acheson [de 1949 à 1953 dans l’administration Truman] Declared: “I want Germans in uniform for the fall of 1951.” Five years after the defeat of Nazism and the end of the Second World War!
In fact, a European army – with Germans in uniform – will be put in place … on paper: according to the military protocol annexed to the European Defense Community Treaty signed in 1952, this army will be made up of land forces (infantry group from 13,000 to 15,600 men, armored group from 12,700 to 14,600 men, mechanized group of 12,700 to 14,700 men), in addition to air forces (1,300 to 2,000 men) and naval forces. The European Defense Community must be accompanied by a European political community. His failure in 1954 will lead to that of political integration.
Why this recall? To formulate a question undoubtedly too little asked in Europe today: why did such a European army never exist? To hear current political debates, it is mainly a question of defense expenses in percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), financing of armaments, support for the military industry … But is it because it would lack 1 % or 2 % of GDP that there would not be “military Europe”? Of course not.
What is the diagnosis to be made? There is no European army because there is no supreme command of European forces which would obey an integrated, federal foreign policy of the European Union (EU). In other words, the problem is political before being soldier. The question is less to have a tool than a common strategic vision which would transcend that of the member states. This problem has never been solved, and it is obviously not close to being. How to explain it? So there was nothing accomplished in three quarters of the century?
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Source: Lemonde