France says yes to a European army

A recent poll demonstrates that a large majority of French citizens, at 67 percent, is in favor of the creation of a European army. Such poll produced by the excellent IFOP comes as a surprise considering the long history of failed attempts to do so. Based on such result one question must be asked: why are French citizens in favor of the creation of a European army?

This poll comes at an interesting time as the French government has announced steep cuts in its defense spending. With the lasting crisis, France has to reassess its defense spending even though it wants to maintain its nuclear deterrence capability as well as its ability to deploy “one major and two significant simultaneous operations abroad.” France has planned to shrink its defense posts by more than 30,000, cutting its defense staff by almost 100,000 by 2019 based on its 2008 numbers. And, one of the government gambles is to halve its purchases of the Dassault Rafale fighter jet over the next six years. For Dassault the moral of this story is export in order to survive. Potential customers for the Rafale are India, Qatar, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Brazil. But expert Mr. Heisbourg tells Hugh Carnegy of the FT that “the wild card is the Rafale. The equation only works if they get the export orders. That is the really big risk in this.”

Before reflecting on the question of European army, the poll published in July 2013 asked French citizens to reflect on their positions and perceptions of the security sectors of France: army, police and justice. At an overwhelming majority, 91 percent, French people express their confidence in the Army. Such numbers are not as high when it comes to the police, with only 78 percent, and 54 percent for the Justice.

In the case of the Army, in the last five years, public perceptions and confidence towards the Army have grown by 10 points. The war in Libya and Mali most likely contributed to this overwhelming increase in public confidence in the Army as both missions have been perceived as military successes for France. In the case of Libya, overall French national opinion is still positive on the role that France played in overthrowing Gaddafi. This domestic understanding of the war in Libya does not reflect the real costs of the NATO-led Operation Unified Protector. In the case of Mali, once again French citizens see the intervention as very positive. On the one hand, Mali marked a turning point in the presidency of François Hollande finally perceived as a true president. On the other hand, the French intervention in Mali demonstrates that France is still a great power and can flex its muscles by deploying military forces wherever needed. Thus, the reasons for intervention – fight against terrorism and stabilization of the Sahel – are seen as ethical.

According to the poll 67 percent of French citizens are favorable to the creation of a European army, while 32 percent are opposed. Such result is quite surprising and never appeared in the press. The thematic of deepening the process of European integration is not a popular one in France considering the Eurocrisis and the perception that Europe is to be blamed for all the traumas of France. So why would French citizens oppose further economic integration but back up a European army? The problem with this poll is that it does not answer any questions, but only creates more. According to IFOP, their analysis of this result is as followed (personal translation): “despite that the latest military interventions did not illustrate a high level of solidarity among European actors, the desire for high coordination remains elevated.” Interestingly enough, nowhere in the questionnaire the themes of cooperation and coordination were raised. The question is (in French “Etes-vous tout à fait favorable, plutôt favorable, plutôt opposé ou tout à fait opposé à la création d’une armée européenne ?”) Are you very favorable, favorable, somehow opposed, or totally opposed to the creation of a European Army? The themes of coordination and cooperation are certainly not apparent and should not impact the decision of the interviewees. So either, IFOP did not release all the data, or one can question the validity of such poll.

Nevertheless, this poll allows a period of introspection and reflection on this important question of a European army. The debate around the creation of a European army goes back to 1954, at the earliest years of the EU, with the European Defense Community (EDC), an initiative launched by the French and killed by the French National Assembly. After a series of discussions and meetings in the 70s and 80s, the closest resemblance to a European army was the creation of the European Defense and Security Policy (ESDP, now known as the Common Security and Defense Policy since the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon) after the 1998 Declaration of Saint Malo, a bilateral meeting between Paris and London. No need to argue that the CSDP is not a European Army and was not designed to be one; even though at the time some high level US officials thought so especially under the Clinton and first Bush administrations. The issue of defense and national security are as important to a state as the ones of monetary and fiscal policies. They are directly connected to the root of national sovereignty. Ultimately this poll raises an existential question about the future of European states and the European Union.

Several questions shall be asked in order to reflect on this fascinating theme: Why would French citizens favor the creation of a European army? Do they realize the real consequences of such creation? Are French citizens ready to die for Europe? Can a European army exist without a European interest? Are French people saying yes to the idea of having a European Army in the future? Or, yes to creating a European Army? With this apparent popular back up of a European army, is it not the time for national officials to foster cooperation and pooling & sharing at the European level in order to remain relevant international actors? Last, are French citizens really in favor of a European army and denied one by their elected officials? Are the multiple failures to create a European army a political choice by national politicians against popular will?