Military of the European Union
Encyclopedia : M : MI : MIL : Military of the European Union
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Life in the European Union
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The European Union member-states co-operate militarily in various ways. Many member states are also members of NATO, and there is a defence organisation called the Western European Union. However, the memberships of the EU, WEU and the NATO European countries are not the same. Indeed, some EU member states are constitutionally committed to remain neutral on defence issues. This article uses the word military in its U.S. English sense, i.e., of armed forces.
One of the issues that the now defunct European Constitution was going to address would have closed down the WEU as a separate organisation and have the EU institutions take on the WEUs defence role. The EU currently has a limited mandate over defence issues, with a role to explore the issue of European defence agreed to in the Amsterdam Treaty, as well as oversight of the European Rapid Reaction Force. However, some EU states may and do make multilateral agreements about defence issues outside of the EU structures. In that sense, therefore, there is no "military of the European Union".
In 2004 EU countries took over leadership of the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina from NATO - see EUFOR - which was given the branding of an EU initiative as the EU sponsored the force to further the force's image of legitimacy.
See also the European Security and Defence Policy.
Military of member states
The individual member states of the EU have separate armed forces:
- Military of Austria
- Military of Belgium
- Cyprus: Cypriot National Guard
- Military of the Czech Republic
- Military of Denmark
- Military of Estonia
- Finland: Finnish Defence Forces
- Military of France
- Germany: Bundeswehr
- Military of Greece
- Military of Hungary
- Ireland: Irish Defence Forces
- Military of Italy
- Military of Latvia
- Military of Lithuania
- Military of Luxembourg
- Malta: Armed Forces of Malta
- Military of the Netherlands
- Poland: Polish Armed Forces
- Military of Portugal
- Military of Slovakia
- Military of Slovenia
- Spain: Spanish Armed Forces
- Sweden: Swedish Armed Forces
- United Kingdom: British Armed Forces
Acceding Countries
- Military of Bulgaria
- Romania: Romanian Army
European military forces and groups
- European Union battle groups
- European Rapid Reaction Force
- EUFOR
- Eurocorps
- European Gendarmerie Force
- European Union Military Staff
European Union
- European Security and Defence Policy
- Common Foreign and Security Policy
- European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI)
- European Council
- Council of the European Union
- European Defence Agency
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Three pillars of the European Union
- Amsterdam Treaty
- European Union Association Agreement
- History of the European Union
Trivia
- If all member state's annual spending was taken as a bloc the figure would amount to over $220 billion, second only to the US military's $518 billion.
See also
- EUFOR
- Council of Europe
- European Defence Community
- NATO
- Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
- Western European Union
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