The European Union Conducts Major Military Exercises To Show The World That Europe Can Be Militarily Powerful Without NATO

It’s not yet a European army, but it’s getting close.

This week in the south of Spain, the European Union is holding its first live military exercise — an effort to show the world it’s a serious security and defense player that can operate without NATO.

Air, land and maritime armed forces from nine EU countries will land on a beach to rescue a fictitious European ally called Seglia that’s asking for help to deal with a rapidly deteriorating security situation caused by a violent extremist group. Spanish troops will play the enemy forces.

Until Sunday, armies that don’t speak the same language and don’t use the same military equipment need to work together. About 2,800 personnel are taking part — 1,800 from Spain, 600 from France and 200 from Portugal — as well as 25 aircraft, such as Spain’s Eurofighter Typhoons, and six vessels including assault ships and a French mine hunter.

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This week’s exercise, dubbed LIVEX, is part of MILEX 23, this year’s edition of the EU Crisis Management Military Exercise. Doing more such efforts in the future is one of the targets in the 2022 EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defense.

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Ultimately, the goal is for the EU to have a fully-fledged military deployment force — hopefully by 2025.

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While the Juan Carlos I’s home port hosts both Spanish and U.S. ships, this week’s military exercise aims to prove the EU can operate independently of NATO.

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Currently, European armies have trained personnel, sophisticated equipment and are able to work together, but are missing a common HQ that doesn’t rely on NATO structures to make political decisions for military operations, EU and French officials told POLITICO.

Challenges for Europe’s armies include interoperability and coordination, but they’re not starting from scratch, said Vessel Ensign David, who leads the French team tasked with moving vehicles from the Tonnerre to the shore. His full name cannot be made public for security reasons.

“We’re discovering a bit,” he said, speaking ahead of an amphibious assault training. He said that shifting from a NATO to an EU structure is “fairly easy,” because European countries already have existing communication channels among themselves.