“Ever-closer union” but still no joint army to defend Europe’s interests. We look at the reasons why.

History: European Defence Community

The European Defence Community  was set up on 27 May 1952.

But this joint European army  never saw action,

leaving the military spotlight  on NATO,

the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,  set up in 1949

and former NATO Brigadier-General  looks back at this period of history.

With the emergence of the Soviet threat,  the coup in Prague

and the increasingly violent nature of  the communist takeovers,

it was necessary to defend  the West and re-arm the democracies.

And it was clear that this could only be  done successfully if Germany took part.

Until then France had been hostile to  German rearmament.

But in 1950 the US, which was at war  with Korea, needed support

so that it could defend Western Europe  as part of NATO.

We met Maurice Faure,  a French parliamentarian at the time

and a fervent supporter of  European integration.

In reality the problem was  German rearmament

France had tried to find a system  in which Germany could participate,

which covered arms  and Western defence needs

and which would mean  giving up her sovereignty.

This is how the idea of a European  Defence Community was born.

It was set up in  the Treaty of Paris in 1952

and was signed by  France, West Germany,

Italy, Netherlands, Belgium  and Luxembourg.

It was understood that  the French would serve

It was certainly challenging  but the French fully understood this.

But on 30 August 1954  the French parliament rejected the treaty.

Why? The war had just ended  and they thought it would never work.

So the EDC never got off the ground, but  with the European Economic Community

the economy became  the motor for integration.

It took until 1992 to bring the  Common Security and Defence Policy,

which included the idea of  a joint army,

within the scope of  the three pillars of the Union.

In the Maastricht treaty  there is of course a paragraph

which talks of the ambitions  for a defence aspect to the EU.

The Common Security  and Defence Policy or CSDP

aims to develop  the EU's civil and military capacity,

The Atalanta mission against piracy  off the Somali coastline

has some 17,000 personnel  from 10 Member States

who provide naval and air forces  as well as two non-EU states.

- changes to the CSDP  are compatible with NATO goals.

This whole ambition for  a European Union defence identity

has increased enormously to the extent  that we've had the Treaty of Lisbon

and creates a high representative  for foreign policy

who has responsibility for  military matters.

European defence  now has a representative

but still no fully independent  standing army.