Military

Outgoing US Army Europe commander pushes for ‘Military Schengen Zone’

As the U.S. Army Europe commander prepares to exit the military stage in September, he’s pushing for better ways for militaries to move freely around the European theater. A military Schengen zone, he thinks, might be the best way to achieve that goal.
In addition to improving the speed at which countries recognize an emerging crisis and make decisions on how to respond, the “speed of assembly,” is also critical to get capability in place to prevent a crisis or react to a crisis, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said at the U.S. Army-led Saber Guardian exercise in Romania this month.
“This exercise has helped us improve our speed of assembly, the movement of allied forces from all over Europe to the Black Sea region and highlighted that we still have challenges with freedom of movement,” he said.
“More than anything we need a military Schengen zone, something that would allow a military convoy to move across Europe as fast as a migrant is able to move across Europe,” Hodges said. “Right now that is not the case.”