One step closer to a bad idea: a European Union army

Bureaucrats in Brussels have long yearned to control the armed forces of the European Union’s member states, with the ultimate goal of creating an EU Army. The United Kingdom has largely stymied these efforts, rightfully seeing them as infringing on national sovereignty and creating a competitor to NATO.

Now, however, with the UK leaving the EU, euro federalists believe the time is right to push forward plans for creating a European defense force outside of nation-state control.

Should that effort succeed, unelected EU officials would decide whether or not to send “their” troops into combat. The decision to deploy force with potentially lethal consequences for some service members is one of the most sacred duties of any government. The idea that unelected, unaccountable, unremovable bureaucrats could send a spouse, child, or friend into harm’s way should give many in Europe pause.

Yet this week, the European Council took another step forward in making that dystopian scenario a reality. It signed off on the creation of The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). The agreement is not an EU Army, but constitutes a big step toward creating an eventual EU Army.