Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, has again stated his country’s opposition to a unified European military force.
Sikorski rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal for a “European army,” reiterating Poland’s longstanding opposition to such a force and its strong support for the continued leading role of the United States in European security.
“The term is ambiguous, and its interpretation varies. A merging of national armies is unrealistic,” Sikorski stated on TVP World on Saturday. He emphasized that strengthening the EU’s defense capabilities should complement, not replace, NATO’s US-led efforts.
Zelenskyy’s call for a unified EU military, made at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, followed sharp criticism of European nations by US Vice President J.D. Vance, who declared that “decades of the old relationship between Europe and America are ending.”
Twenty-two EU member states are also members of NATO, a US-led alliance that has effectively shaped continental security policy since the Cold War. However, several EU leaders previously suggested pooling their military resources into a force independent of the US.
Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak stated in November 2023 that “any competition between [NATO] and the EU on security matters is detrimental,” and that Warsaw prioritizes its close partnership with the US over “a hypothetical European army.” Poland has substantially increased military cooperation with the US in recent years, including a $10 billion purchase of HIMARS systems, a $2 billion US loan for military modernization, and the establishment of a permanent US base in Poznań.
Before the conflict in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel were prominent proponents of an EU army. In 2019, Macron labeled NATO as “brain dead” and advocated for European “strategic autonomy” from Washington.
Italy also voiced support for a joint military last January. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani argued that a joint military is essential for a credible EU foreign policy.
The Ukraine conflict seems to have dampened enthusiasm for this idea. Macron has adjusted his stance on NATO, now supporting its expansion. While Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz still speaks of a “more sovereign… European Union,” he has remained silent on the idea of a “real, true European army,” as Merkel once described it.
Two decades ago, when the concept of an independent European force first emerged, then-US Secretary of Defense William Cohen termed it “a threat to NATO’s very existence.”