BUILDING A COMMON DEFENCE IN A FEDERAL UNION: WHAT CAN EUROPE LEARN FROM THE U.S. EXPERIENCE?

Author DOMENICO MORO, is a member of the national board of the Movimento Federalista Europeo (MFE) and of the Federal Committee of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). He is a former director of the Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies.

INTRODUCTION

The security environment of the European Union has changed radically in the past few years and has contributed to resurrect an idea that seemed to be condemned to oblivion, that of European integration in the field of defence.
In the past year, the Member States of the European Union have been showing a willingness to relaunch cooperation and even integration in the field of defence at a pace that has no equal in the history of the European project. The prospect of starting a Permanent Structured Cooperation among those Member States willing to deepen their defence integration is becoming a concrete possibility.
Nonetheless, the opposition to the idea of a true “European Army” remains widespread. Starting from the conviction that there is no credible alternative for European defence than to become a federal competence of the European Union, this paper explores what lessons Europe can learn from the history of the United States in the development of a federal defence. It first focuses on the history and the challenges of the concept of “dual army” as core feature of the US defence framework since its creation. The dynamics between the state militias and the federal army are presented throughout the wars the US took part into, including the American civil war.

Then, the paper focuses on key lessons that the US history can teach Europeans willing to develop a European common defence. The US experience shows to Europe that a one-step leap from national armies to a single federal army is hardly possible and that a dual army system, consisting of a federal army dedicated mainly to external operations and national armies mainly dedicated to territorial defence in the strict sense, is more realistic for large continental federal states in formation, certainly at the beginning of their development. For a federal army to emerge, a single European Operational Headquarter and General Staff in charge of all federal defence operations and missions is an essential step.

A European military academy is crucial to develop a common European military approach and strategy built around the particular strengths and weaknesses of the European defense system and the geopolitical position of the European Union as a whole. It is also essential for forming European high ranking military personnel with a European strategic thinking and with the skills to command multinational forces. Last but not least, standardization of equipment is vital to enable national military personnel to work together as well as to develop a defence industry and R&D projects that can rely on a Europe-wide market.