Threaths from South and East - Germany, France and Brussels recommends More Europe and NATO

At the NATO summit in Warsaw on 8 July 2016 the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signed a joint NATO-EU declaration said: “Unity and cooperation between NATO and the European Union remains as important as ever. In these times of uncertainty our partnership is increasingly essential... Today, the Euro-Atlantic community is facing unprecedented challenges emanating from the South and East. Our citizens demand that we use all ways and means available to address these challenges so as to enhance their security ...."

Two months later  EUobserver can tell that Germany and France, in the margins of the NATO summit, had cooked up plans for closer EU defence cooperation, including a new military HQ and swifter deployment of overseas missions. The UK had in the past opposed steps toward the creation of an EU army or duplication of Nato structures. But in a 6 page paper Germany and France now said that “taking into account the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, we have to henceforth act as 27 [member states]”.

Some weeks later the implementation of the NATO-EU declaration was one of the two measures the leaders agreed in the Bratislava Declaration and Roadmap under the External and Defence Objective, the other measure was for the December European Council to decide "on a concrete inplementation plan on external security and defence" - cf. the Franco-German initiative.

External Security and Defence

Objective

In a challenging geopolitical environment, strengthen EU cooperation on external security and defence 

Concrete measures a) December European Council to decide on a concrete implementation plan on security and defence and on how to make better use of the options in the Treaties, especially as regards capabilities b) start implementing the joint declaration with NATO immediately 

But UK is still a member of the EU, and Britain will veto the creation of an EU army for as long as it remains a full member of the group, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon warned shortly after the Bratislava summit. And also among the remaining members, there is disagreement about the added value of the Franco-German initiative. EUObserver writes:

The ideas are likely to win support in eastern EU countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, but could pose problems for neutral EU states, such as Ireland, as well as for others, such as The Netherlands, who do not believe that people in post-Brexit Europe want to make new leaps in integration.