This ‘EU-military’ thing is a fake topic. If the US was to leave NATO or drastically limit it’s footprint in Europe (my belief), the EU might stand around and discuss this for months...but when you said that X-number of troops or tanks have to be paid for, and that an enormous part of the burden lies with France and Germany...well, it’s not going to be funded.
Go look at the social cost issues going on. Virtually everyone in the EU has a problem with their social pension program, educational commitments, and pay-offs to various countries to hold back refugees/migrants. There’s simply not tens of billions laying around to run a first-class EU Army or even a second-class EU Army.
No, this is no fake topic. Not after several decades of planning for it.
The crises are all EU-made. They did not have to happen, not a single one of them, but as Jean Monnet pointed out, the EU is all about rule by crisis. It took several decades for that single currency to come about, and that was planned for way back in the 1950s. A single military could come about in just a few short years, especially with the central command structure falling into place recently.
Not to mention, it’s not all about money but about bang for the buck. Control overspending in that one area and a disciplined military capable of anything can appear, especially with all the preplanning for it.
Not to mention, the economic problems are just another backdrop for the elites. Anything to keep the public off their toes.