Looking at the idea of a European Army – you have two sides to look at. The fact base and the emotional side. Most discussion place the political problems in front of everything; But before figuring the actual problems to merge all those military forces – you need to figure weather it is a good idea to go ahead.

This article tries to solve the question from a people perspective. Which is – or should be – an emotional one. Also, I’m looking at it – from a mostly German perspective.
The german emotional attachments to the forces -Bundeswehr- is mostly ambivalent. As it is the successor of the “Wehrmacht” and the NVA „Nationale Volksarmee“ – both no institutions of great trust and known of cruelty.
Also – there is the knowledge of – mostly economic Power – and the wish of take on more responsibility. On the contrary there is a very strong party of peace movements in Germany – especially with B90/Die Grüne and die Linke – with strong opinions to not involve in any kind of military conflict and even deny any weapons delivery to anyone except local forces. (Which is kind of funny having a big defense industry in Germany (Airbus, Rheinmetal, Heckler & Koch,…))