The authors are cautious about the ambitions of the European Military and European defence. In June, the French lead, the British, Germany and Spain, the defense minister signed the letter of intention, and established European Joint Troops, but the function was limited to the main implementation of the joint military mission, such as the evacuation of civilians and disaster relief from the war zone. Then Finland applied. German chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support, but stressed that it was limited to defence cooperation between Joint and Germany,Germany would not participate in each tasks.
But this is not what Macron called "the European army," the European army should be "the European unification military". At the origin of the EU, the idea of forming a European unification military was proposed in different ways. However, because the EU's defence has long relied on NATO, the so-called "European army" can only stay in the envisaged stage. In may,Merkel made it clear that Germany would not participate in the construction of a "European army", which will remain in partnership with NATO members. Apparently, fade has its own "small calculation" for the way Europe's "double engines" are in defense cooperation.
In 2008, EU planned to set up a European Rapid Response Force, which had 60,000 people, and became the core of the EU's defence, nearly 20 years later, and even the Force was almost dead. As a result, French media have been outspoken about the "European army" plan of the Macron.
For all this, it is understandable that the world's important economies are not surprised to seek defense autonomy.
本文作者对欧洲军计划及欧洲防卫的野心持审慎态度。今年6月，法国牵头、英国、德国、西班牙等9国防长签署意向书，成立一支欧洲9国联合部队，但功能较为局限，主要执行从战区撤离平民、救灾等联合军事任务。之后，芬兰也申请加入。德国总理默克尔对此表示支持，但强调这仅限于国与国之间的防务合作，德国不会参与每一项任务。
但这并不是马克龙所说的“欧洲军”，按照设想，“欧洲军”应该是“欧洲统一部队”。从欧盟成立之初，组建欧洲统一部队的设想都以不同方式被提出过。然而，由于欧盟的防务长期依赖北约，所谓的“欧洲军”只能停留在设想阶段。对于真正的“欧洲军”，默克尔今年5月曾明确表示，在可预见的未来，德国不会参与建设一支“欧洲军”，德国将保持与北约成员国的合作。显然，法德这对欧洲“双引擎”在防务合作的方式和程度上有着自己的“小算盘”。
2008年，欧盟国家就曾计划建立一支拥有６万人的欧洲快速反应部队，并成为欧盟防务的核心，近20年过去了，就连这支快速反应部队也几近名存实亡。因此，法国媒体对马克龙“欧洲军”计划直言是一种“超现实主义”。
尽管如此，世界重要的经济体寻求防卫自主权并不奇怪，是可以理解的。