I agree. I think Macron's proposal for a tiered EU membership model might work as well - give some states the unified market and contracts enforcements, give other states that plus unified military posture under a single command, give other states almost complete devolution of powers to the EU
> that can call upon its French or German division to take certain steps that those divisions cannot refuse
A major additional issue is national constitutions as well. For example, Germany's constitution doesn't allow an expeditionary force outside of NATO territory, which pisses off France and Netherlands because they both have dependencies outside of NATO that face pressure from China (French Polynesia, Mayotte) and Venezuela (Dutch Antilles).
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And the question of Turkiye remains, becuase it's the only NATO state that has direct combat experience against Russian forces (Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh in 2016) and mass deployment.
Turkiye needs to be integrated as part of the EU's structure, otherwise the EU will continue to lack the heft needed to defend itself.
But Greece, France, and Cyprus will continue to veto Turkiye because of North Cyprus (Greece, Cyprus) and business+geopolitical conflicts (France)
Ironically, Germany has been quietly receptive to including Turkiye in the EU as German businesses and MICs are closely aligned with Turkiye.
> that can call upon its French or German division to take certain steps that those divisions cannot refuse
A major additional issue is national constitutions as well. For example, Germany's constitution doesn't allow an expeditionary force outside of NATO territory, which pisses off France and Netherlands because they both have dependencies outside of NATO that face pressure from China (French Polynesia, Mayotte) and Venezuela (Dutch Antilles).
--------
And the question of Turkiye remains, becuase it's the only NATO state that has direct combat experience against Russian forces (Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh in 2016) and mass deployment.
Turkiye needs to be integrated as part of the EU's structure, otherwise the EU will continue to lack the heft needed to defend itself.
But Greece, France, and Cyprus will continue to veto Turkiye because of North Cyprus (Greece, Cyprus) and business+geopolitical conflicts (France)
Ironically, Germany has been quietly receptive to including Turkiye in the EU as German businesses and MICs are closely aligned with Turkiye.