Merkel to Push Ahead With EU Army Following Brexit Vote, Says German Defence Minister

• The EU Army is already a reality. Articles that paint the picture that the EU Army is just starting are WRONG! Here are the proofs:
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  EU Battlegroups – Ready To Go?  (Nov 2013)
  by Anna Barcikowska, http://www.iss.europa.eu/  
  Nearly 15 years ago, in December 1998, at the AngloFrench summit in Saint Malo French and British leaders called on the EU to develop a ‘capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises’. That was quickly followed by the EU’s first Headline Goal, with a view to developing and deploying a corps-size force (50,000-60,000 troops) within 60 days and sustaining it in the field for at least one year.
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  The fledgling EU military rapid response concept was put to the test during Operation Artemis – the first autonomous EU-led military operation, launched in June 2003 under UN mandate in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help stabilise the security conditions and improve the humanitarian situation in Bunia. Artemis demonstrated that the EU can successfully conduct an operation in a distant theatre (over 6,000 km from Brussels) with a small multinational force (approximately 2,000 troops). 
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  The Battlegroup proposal initially garnered a high level of political support throughout Europe. At the time it was also seen as closely associated with the blueprint for ‘permanent structured co-operation’ as set out in the then ‘Constitutional Treaty’ to allow member states to make more binding commitments to each other in defence matters. The Franco-British-German initiative was further developed by the EU Military Staff and officially launched at the Military Capability Commitments Conference on 22 November 2004. The EU Battlegroup Concept intended to provide the Union with initial operational capability in 2005 and full operational capability from 2007 onwards.
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  The EU Battlegroups (BGs) reached Full Operational Capability on 1 January 2007. … Whereas militarily Battlegroups have been ‘ready-togo’ for quite some time now, politically they are far from it. 
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  read more.
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• See also: Wikipedia
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  EU Battlegroup
  An EU Battlegroup (EU BG)^[1] is a military unit adhering to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union (EU). Often based on contributions from a coalition of member states, each of the eighteen Battlegroups consists of a battalion-sized force (1,500 troops) reinforced with combat support elements.^[2][3] The groups rotate actively, so that two are ready for deployment at all times. The forces are under the direct control of the Council of the European Union. 
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  The Battlegroups reached full operational capacity on 1 January 2007, although, as of July 2015 they are yet to see any military action.
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  Size: 
  18 battalions, including:
  *14 battalions with ~1,500 soldiers
  *4 battalions with ~2,500 soldiers
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  read more.

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