International security

How The Myth of An EU Army Bolstered The Brexit Vote


As NATO leaders meet in Brussels, one shadow lingering over their coming fist-pounding commitments to collective European security is the fact that the Brexit vote in the UK was fueled in part by a persistent fear that the EU was going to create a separate Army. A look at history, and a few discussions with Brexit-watchers in Europe, suggest that the idea was much more fiction than fact.

The story came directly from the mouths of influential British national security leaders and was repeated through pro-Brexit media outlets. Former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Charles Guthrie told the Telegraph that “‘A European Army could damageNATO. It is expensive. It’s unnecessary duplication to have it. It would appeal to some euro vanity thing.”