German plot to keep EU army a SECRET till June 23 EXPOSED as plans drawn up in Berlin.

The blind leading the blind.

German plot to keep EU army a SECRET till June 23 EXPOSED as plans drawn up in Berlin. (Express).

Along with judicial, tax and immigration issues, a Euro-army has for long been one of the main irritants of anti-EU campaigners. 

The fact that Germany - the powerhouse of the project - is mooting one so close to the referendum on whether Britain stays or goes is seen as madness by politicians fighting to keep the UK within the group.

Now a white paper has been drawn up by Berlin. Media reports suggest that the Germans wanted to keep its proposals secret until after the June 23 plebiscite but it has now been leaked.

The paper outlines steps to "gradually co-ordinate Europe's patchwork of national militaries and launch permanent cooperation under common structures among the member states."

The initiatives proposed includes strengthening cyberwarfare abilities and relaxing Germany's self-imposed restrictions about deploying troops in peacetime within the country.  This was brought in after 1945 when Nazism was crushed and Germans turned away from militarism.

The draft proposal seeks to end the ban noting the "character and dynamic of current and future security-political threats."  This includes deep-rooted fears in Germany that it could suffer a Paris-style terror strike any time soon.

"German security policy has relevance — also for beyond our country. Germany is willing to join early, decisively and substantially as a driving force in international debates ... to take responsibility and assume leadership," the white paper says.

Moscow’s suspicions of such a move will be compounded by Juncker’s specific statement that forming such a body would make clear to Russia that the EU is “serious about upholding the value of the European Union”.

Juncker insisted the force would not be in competition with Nato, the 28-member alliance which includes most but not all EU countries and which the UK views as the bedrock of western defence cooperation.

“Rather a European army would bring an intensive cooperation in the development and the purchase of military equipment and bring substantial savings,” he added. Read the full story here.

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