Publication details
European army in the making: Germany’s approach to European defence cooperation
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | In 2017, Germany signed an agreement with the Czech Republic and Romania on integrating parts of their militaries into a larger German-led organizational structure under NATO’s Framework Nations Concept. This step has been assessed as part of a quiet, but radical move towards a “European army” under German leadership, offering benefits to both Germany as the framework nation, and its smaller partner countries. In this paper, we take the case of military cooperation between Germany and the Czech Republic to explore this trend more into depth. We argue that this “plug-in” model is indeed a win-win solution for both sides. Yet, as the case of the strongly politicized Czech debate on the affiliation of the Czech army’s 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade to the Bundeswehr’s 10th Armoured Division demonstrates, the sensitive, historically determined issue of German (military) expansionism still looms large over Czech politics and society, suggesting limits in the German-led build-up of a “European army”. |