Four years into the Ukraine war, is Europe ready for its own army?
Europe has struggled to unite to meet the challenges of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the last four years.
The threat from Russia, and the growing tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump, have fueled suggestions that the answer to Europe’s divisions, redundancies and duplications in its defense efforts is a single European army. The idea is almost as old as post-Second World War European cooperation, but it’s been the subject of intense discussion in 2026.
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Andrius Kubilius, the European Union’s Commissioner for defense and space, told CNBC that the EU should consider establishing a standing military force of 100,000 troops, to be able to “fight as Europe.”
His words come after Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, told Reuters that the continent should “focus on properly integrating its defense industry,” arguing that a “joint effort would be more efficient than 27 separate national armies.”
But the EU’s Kaja Kallas has warned a Europe-wide army would be “extremely dangerous,” adding its advocates “haven’t really thought this through practically.” “If you are already part of NATO then you can’t create a separate army,” she said.
Strengthening the European pillar
The idea of a common European army was first mooted in 1951, when France suggested a joint European force to counter the Soviet Union and to ensure that German rearmament did not threaten its neighbors. But the proposal was voted down in the French National Assembly three years later.
An analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, published in February last year, urged European leaders to reopen discussions and argued that higher spending should go hand in hand with reform and integration of European defense forces.
“This is a big challenge because European militaries are not designed to work with each other. They are designed to work with the United States,” Max Bergmann, director of Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who wrote the report, told CNBC.
He said Europe’s response to any war would be “very messy.” He added that the countries’ militaries operate different types of equipment and are “spending a lot of money, but they are not coordinating how they are spending that money. There’s a lot of redundancies, duplication, as well as inefficiencies there.”
In recent years, the European Commission has pledged to boost the competitiveness and innovation of the European defense industry. To address some of the inefficiencies in the current system, leaders have also agreed to step up efforts of joint procurement of ammunition, air and missile defense, as well as legacy systems, with a total budget of 310 million euros [$364.8 million].
Some European leaders have suggested that Europe should focus on strengthening its position within NATO, rather than pursue an independent armed force.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told CNBC at…
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