Four years into the Ukraine war, is Europe ready for its own army?

Europe has struggled to unite to satisfy the challenges of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the final 4 years.

The risk from Russia, and the rising tensions with the U.S. below President Donald Trump, have fueled ideas that the reply to Europe’s divisions, redundancies and duplications in its protection efforts is a single European military. The thought is virtually as previous as post-Second World Warfare European cooperation, however it’s been the topic of intense dialogue in 2026.

At the World Financial Discussion board (WEF) at Davos, Andrius Kubilius, the European Union’s Commissioner for protection and area, instructed CNBC that the EU ought to think about establishing a standing navy drive of 100,000 troops, to be capable of “combat as Europe.”

His phrases come after Spain’s international minister, Jose Manuel Albares, instructed Reuters that the continent ought to “deal with correctly integrating its protection trade,” arguing {that a} “joint effort could be extra environment friendly than 27 separate nationwide armies.”

However the EU’s Kaja Kallas has warned a Europe-wide military could be “extraordinarily harmful,” including its advocates “have not actually thought this by means of virtually.” “In case you are already a part of NATO then you possibly can’t create a separate military,” she stated.

The thought of a typical European military was first mooted in 1951, when France steered a joint European drive to counter the Soviet Union and to make sure that German rearmament didn’t threaten its neighbors. However the proposal was voted down in the French Nationwide Meeting three years later.

An evaluation by the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, printed in February final 12 months, urged European leaders to reopen discussions and argued that increased spending ought to go hand in hand with reform and integration of European protection forces.

“This is an enormous problem as a result of European militaries usually are not designed to work with one another. They’re designed to work with the United States,” Max Bergmann, director of Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, who wrote the report, instructed CNBC.

He stated Europe’s response to any conflict could be “very messy.” He added that the nations’ militaries function various kinds of gear and are “spending some huge cash, however they don’t seem to be coordinating how they’re spending that cash. There’s a variety of redundancies, duplication, in addition to inefficiencies there.”

In latest years, the European Fee has pledged to spice up the competitiveness and innovation of the European protection trade. To deal with a few of the inefficiencies in the present system, leaders have additionally agreed to step up efforts of joint procurement of ammunition, air and missile protection, in addition to legacy programs, with a complete funds of 310 million euros [$364.8 million].

Some European leaders have steered that Europe ought to deal with strengthening its place inside NATO, slightly than pursue an unbiased armed drive.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb instructed CNBC at WEF final month that the area’s protection functionality needed to be “used nationally and in NATO, not as an EU military.”

“We have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO,” he stated, including: “We do two issues: we enhance our protection trade… and on the second hand, we improve the capabilities of European states.”

Some latest surveys have steered that the temper has shifted since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4 years in the past.

The EU Barometer survey confirmed that assist for a typical EU protection and safety coverage has risen over the previous decade. It stood at 76% in 2014 after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea and was 81% in the spring of 2025, the highest since 2004.

When Europeans had been requested about assist or opposition to the creation of a regional military that included forces from their own nation, 61% of respondents in Lithuania backed the thought, based on a YouGov ballot in October final 12 months. In Germany, 59% of these surveyed favoured the proposal, while in Spain, that quantity stood at 58%. Greater than half of these surveyed in Denmark (56%) and in France (55%) additionally backed the proposal.

“Electorally, this is on no account a loser,” Bergmann instructed CNBC. “A few of the latest polling has proven that Europeans are very nervous about their own safety. They suppose that the potential for conflict is very actual… they need, kind of, radical change in the case of protection.”

Some safety consultants are skeptical the thought of a sovereign European military would win over voters, even in unsure occasions.

Guntram Wolff, a senior fellow at Bruegel, who specialises in protection economics, in addition to European rearmament, stated the thought of a sovereign European military was “fairly unlikely, except circumstances change dramatically.” He argues that residents all through Europe would like if their nations delivered on joint protection.

“Residents have by and enormous understood that it will be simpler and price much less. With the conflict towards Ukraine and the fracturing transatlantic relationship, European residents have develop into much more supportive of deeper European protection integration,” he instructed CNBC through e-mail.

Larger European protection cooperation is fashionable throughout Europe — however there are challenges, warned Liana Repair, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on International Relations.

“On the navy aspect, the most vital questions to unravel are decision-making and European command buildings. To this point, everybody is nonetheless counting on NATO buildings,” she stated.

At the NATO summit in the Hague final 12 months, member states pledged to spice up protection spending to satisfy a brand new goal of 5% of GDP, after stress from Trump.

Spain was the solely member that opted out of the pledge. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that the nation would cap its navy funds at the “enough and life like” stage of simply over 2% of GDP.

In an interview with CNBC at WEF, Spain’s economic system minister, Carlos Cuerpo, stated the nation must make “finest use” of its cash “by way of actually reinforcing our military, our protection trade and our sovereignty round protection and safety.”

“Spain will do its utmost to reside as much as its commitments inside NATO functionality reinforcement… we can be a dependable associate inside NATO as we have now at all times been,” he added.