Speaking to Express.co.uk, the fomer SNP deputy leader claimed a European army will always remain a dream and would never become reality for French President Emmanuel Macron. The Brexiteer argued that in the construction of an EU army, member states would not even manage to agree on who would be in charge of the military operation. Mr Sillars argued the project could never mimic NATO as it would lack a key member state like the US powerful enough to fund it.

He said: "I think the elite will use every problem to argue for further integration towards the United States of Europe, and I think that's inevitable because it has been the elite's objective ever since the treaty of Rome was saying that back in the 1950s.

"But I'm not sure that they will accomplish it in the way that it would be necessary for Macron's idea of a European army.

"I don't think in reality that the member states would be willing to actually pay for a European army that could project force in the world domain.

"And I think that's one of the dreams of Macron that will not come true. And if you look at how you would construct a European army, you run into an immediate problem: who would be the chief of staff?

"Well, it wouldn't be someone from Greece because, you know, France wouldn't have that.

"It wouldn't be someone from Italy because French and Germany wouldn't have that.

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"France may go along with the Germans but would the Germans go along with other nations?

"What about Poland? The more you think of the attempt to construct a European army, what a nonsense it is.

"And if you take that by comparison with NATO, why does NATO manages to operate as a single organisation made up of a number of countries?

"It is because they have one supreme organisation in it that handles the big money and takes control of the logistics and the command.

"That's the United States. You couldn't have a mimicked image of NATO inside the European Union.

"So I say it's dream times for Macron and not realistic times."

Officials in the trade bloc have long spoken of a European army in order to push Brussels geopolitical position in the world. Funding for a European Defence Fund has also been included in the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Earlier this month, Germany's CDU and SCU parliamentary groups foreign policy spokesman, Jurgen Hardt insisted the EU must be more capable of action.

He said: It is important that the EU itself becomes more capable of action and that it cannot only respond effectively to crises in its own neighbourhood, but also act preventively.

Our American friends expect the same from us.

They are less and less willing to play a part in order to regulate regions that they consider to be far away, but which are immediate neighbourhoods for us.

We have to build our own civil-military leadership structure that can control EU operations.

We have to divide the tasks even more clearly among the EU member states, which makes the use of resources more efficient.

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And we have to build interoperable weapon systems.

We want to gradually integrate the armed forces of the EU member states so that we create a European army in the long term through an army of Europeans.

The defence scheme would receive 8billion (7.1billion) in the mammoth 1.1trillion MFF.

This came before and despite the EU facing a severe financial crisis following the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Hardt, however, indicated any European army would be to supplement NATO rather than replace it.

Originally posted here:

Emmanuel Macrons EU army dream crushed as nonsense plan - Who would be in charge? - Daily Express