Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez are among the latest voices to support the idea of a European army to ensure a credible and lasting peace in the continent.\u00a0“It is time to create a European army, EU armed forces with troops from all 27 member countries, working under a single flag with the same objectives,” S\u00e1nchez said. “This is the only way that we become a true union.”\u00a0On paper, the concept is attractive. It could boost the interoperability of military systems, weapons, and forces, and would also involve a joint command structure to improve coordination among all participating troops.\u00a0Europe\u2014including the UK\u2014currently has 1.47 million active-duty military personnel. By the end of 2024, the Russian presence in Ukraine had reached 700,000 troops.\u00a0The largest armed forces are in France, with 202,200 troops, followed by Germany (179,850), Poland (164,100), Italy (161,850), the United Kingdom (141,100), Greece (132,000), and Spain (122,200), according to the Military Balance 2025, compiled by the IISS.\u00a0In the short term, Europe’s challenge is not to replace the US military one-for-one, Max Bergmann, director at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a recent analysis. \u201cBut for the long term, Europe should get serious about building a common European force that can fight and act as one to defend Europe\u2014that can replace the United States,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0However, despite calls from various capitals in recent years, EU officials in Brussels remain reluctant to reignite the conversation.\u00a0Having a renewed debate on creating a European army would only create confusion, one official told Euronews.\u00a0\u201cDefence is and will remain a national prerogative,\u201d an EU spokesperson added, clarifying that \u201cthe point is not about having an \u2018EU army\u2019 but rather about having 27 capable and interoperable armies that can work better and together.\u201d\u00a0Current discussions and plans are focusing on integrating Ukraine into the EU\u2019s defence market and boosting military capabilities and readiness in the event of a potential Russian aggression\u2014which, according to several European intelligence agencies, could happen within five years.\u00a0Earlier this year, the EU\u2019s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, noted that fragmentation in Europe is inflating costs, hindering interoperability, and causing logistical issues. The continent currently has 172 different types of major weapons systems, aircraft, vehicles, and combat vessels, compared to just 32 in the US.\u00a0\u201cWe need integration in defence and interoperability on the ground. We do not need a European army,\u201d the former Estonian prime minister said.\u00a0Currently, 23 out of 27 EU countries fall under the security umbrella of the transatlantic military alliance. However, as the US shifts its strategic focus to the Indo-Pacific, it is urging its allies to shoulder a greater share of the burden in defending the European continent.\u00a0NATO is expected to call on its 32 allies to increase their military capability targets by 30% during its annual summit in The Hague, Netherlands, in June.\u00a0The alliance is also likely to ask members to raise defence spending to at least 3% of GDP\u2014up from the current 2%, which some European countries, including Belgium, Italy, and Spain, still fail to meet.\u00a0ADVERTISEMENTEU heavyweights such as Kallas and Andrius Kubilius, the bloc\u2019s defence commissioner, have repeatedly emphasised that the EU is not seeking to compete with NATO but rather to support its European members in meeting shared objectives.\u00a0\u201cWe need 27 European armies that are capable and can effectively work together to deter our rivals and defend Europe\u2014preferably with our allies and partners, but alone if needed,\u201d Kallas said in late January.\u00a0According to preliminary estimates from the Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel, for Europe to serve as a credible deterrent without US support, a European army would require at least 1,400 tanks, 2,000 infantry fighting vehicles, and 700 artillery pieces. It would also need a million 155mm shells for the first three months of high-intensity combat.\u00a0In terms of personnel, Europe would need an additional 300,000 troops. Drone production would need to scale up to 2,000 long-range loitering munitions annually to match Russian levels. And defence spending would also have to increase by approximately \u20ac250 billion per year\u2014roughly 3.5% of GDP\u2014in the short term.\u00a0ADVERTISEMENT\u201cWe should try to create a military parity between Europe and Russia, which would maintain this deterrence without even having to necessarily resort to nuclear deterrence,\u201d Dr. Alexandr Burilkov, co-author of the Bruegel analysis, told Euronews.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez are among the latest voices to support the idea of a European army to ensure a credible and lasting peace in the continent.\u00a0“It is time to create a European army, EU armed forces with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":282068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-282067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282069,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282067\/revisions\/282069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}