http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/world/europe/european-leaders-debate-proposals-for-closer-military-ties.html 2016-09-17 00:17:20 European Leaders Debate Proposals for Closer Military Ties Amid high levels of anti-European Union sentiment across the Continent, European nations are considering greater coordination among their armed forces. === BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — At a moment when many voters across the Continent want national governments to reclaim power from Brussels, the leaders of 27 The proposals, still at an early stage, were among the most far-reaching on the summit meeting’s agenda, the second to be held since Britain It is not clear whether any of the ideas for tighter military coordination will come to fruition, especially to the degree that they would complicate the relationship between But Ireland is concerned about retaining its traditional neutrality. And some of the Baltic nations bordering Russia are fearful of any steps that might undermine NATO’s security guarantees. In an unusually direct warning, as leaders arrived at the castle where the summit meeting was held, Prime Minister Taavi Roivas of Estonia publicly reminded Chancellor Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite, said there would be no consideration of a European army. “We can’t duplicate NATO, we cannot replace NATO,” she said. That did not discourage President “Do we want a leading role in the future of the world?” Mr. Hollande asked reporters on Friday. “There is no union if we don’t defend what we consider to be our values and interests. France is taking a leading role in European defense, but it can’t do it alone, and it doesn’t want to do it alone.” At a joint news conference on Friday evening, Ms. Merkel and Mr. Hollande underscored the importance of their initiative to enhance military cooperation to Europe’s future. Ms. Merkel said much “more needs to be done” in the area of defense and expressed optimism that progress would be made in the coming months. The tension over the military proposals reflects a broader debate within the European Union about how to respond to the anti-Brussels sentiment behind Britain’s vote to leave the bloc and a general rise in nationalism and populism across the Continent. The instinct of many national leaders and much of the bloc’s leadership in Brussels is to continue pushing ahead with cross-border integration on any number of fronts. But there are high levels of anti-European Union sentiment in countries like Hungary and Poland, and “The military discussion allows leaders to show that the E.U. is not dead in the water and that it remains resilient after the ‘Brexit’ vote,” said Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations and the former chief executive of the European Defense Agency, a forum for European Union member states to cooperate on defense initiatives. In the past, he said, the European Union might have talked about deepening trade ties to show it had purpose, but “in the sour Deeper security cooperation is also seen by some European leaders as a way to respond to concern about mass migration from the Middle East and the threat of terrorism. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, the umbrella group for the bloc’s leaders, said at a news conference on Friday evening that a number of the leaders meeting in Bratislava had decided on the “immediate” deployment of security personnel and equipment to Bulgaria in order to protect against another influx of refugees across its border with Turkey. Europe has made many false starts trying to unify its militaries to project power quickly and efficiently beyond its borders. An effort at creating fighting battalions is widely regarded as an abject failure as the troops were never deployed because of a lack of political will. But proposals to bolster the bloc’s military capacities took a major leap forward this month as a result of proposals by France and Germany. They include creating a joint military headquarters, expanding European Union forces and increasing joint cooperation on military procurement. The plans will discussed in the coming months. Some steps could be agreed to at a summit meeting in December. The European Union developed so-called battle groups a decade ago as a response to Europe’s inability to do much to stop the One reason is squeamishness about European blood’s being spilled in the wake of popular disenchantment with Western-led military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. European governments have also backed away from previous commitments to join forces over procurement to protect their own weapons industries. Efforts to have Europe take the lead on major military operations for the Western allies have also been troubled. A British parliamentary panel Mr. Witney said he was confident that an operational headquarters would be created in Brussels since Britain could no longer veto that step, but “whether those operations actually happen depends on national capitals,” he said.