Some European countries did not support Italy’s call for a European military

7 February, 2024 Italian C1 tanks during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge European exercises. Photo credits: 7th Army Training Command Some European countries did not support the Italian foreign minister's call for a European military.

Defense News journalist Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo reported this on her LinkedIn page. Despite Italy's call for a joint European military to counter Russia's aggression, some EU member states did not support this idea due to disagreements. States such as Slovenia, Spain, Denmark, and Poland have noted that this idea is unrealistic and unnecessary in the modern world.

A K2 Black Panther tank of the Polish Army.

Photo credits: Matthew Foster

The Spanish Defense Minister noted that the creation of a common European military was not possible even in 1992, when the European Union consisted of 12 member states. In turn, the Danish Defense Minister noted that Europe already has its own rapid response and defense forces within NATO, which makes the idea of creating a joint military irrational and would worsen command through additional structures.

NATO is the cornerstone of our collective security, and defense remains a matter of national sovereignty - there is no NATO or EU military, but there is close defense cooperation between allies and member states," Troels Lund Poulsen, Minister of Defense of Denmark, said.

The Ministry of Defense of Poland also made a statement in this regard, noting:

Poland does not neglect the EU's actions in the field of security and defense, but these efforts should be complementary to strengthening NATO and promoting transatlantic security," the Polish Ministry of Defense said.

Spanish Pizarro (ASCOD) ICV

Additionally, the Ministry of Defense of Poland noted that the country seeks to improve not only pan-European cooperation between countries but also personal cooperation between neighboring countries. Militarnyi previously reported that the Ministry of Defense of Italy had launched a program to purchase more than 1,000 tracked combat vehicles to upgrade its armored vehicle fleet.

The program's first stage will be the search for companies that will present their combat vehicle designs within the requirements published by the Ministry of Defense of Italy. The main contenders are the Italian Leonardo and Iveco, the French-German team KNDS, and the German Rheinmetall. The program, called Army Armored Combat System (A2CS), provides for the upgrade of a significant number of combat vehicles in the Italian army.

One of the requirements is the development of multifunctional vehicles capable of solving a wide range of tasks.