The modern German Army (Bundeswehr) is hyper sensitive to comparisons to the SS and the Wehrmacht. The German government intentionally holds them back and is extremely reticent to allow aggressive moves or attitudes. The Bundeswehr is painted as a defense force, nothing more. Recall the tip toeing when they sent them to Afghanistan.
And it’s the Bundeswehr which will dominate an EU force; the French will claim ownership but nobody will believe that.
Their main mission will be to suppress the indigenous European populations and pave the way for more Muslims and Africans to move into Europe as others here have pointed out. As for going up against the Russian Army, I have met those guys. Maybe a part of the Bundeswehr would do OK against them but the other guys - the French, the “Belgians” (whoever they are) etc - will get stomped in a conventional fight. The real fight would be between the old Warsaw Pact allies and the Russians - Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians - people who still remember what it was like being kicked around by the Russians.
But that’s not a hell of a lot of people.
Doesn’t matter. Isn’t gonna come to that. Putin is getting long of tooth and the Russian people just want a job, a pension, and access to Western goods. The IKEA store in Moscow is busy all the time. If you open a Costco in Ostankinskaya it’ll be flooded with people.
A force analysis of an EU military would focus on their technological capabilities and come up with a strong force evaluation. But the social and political will is not there, except in a few quarters, and thus it’s not going to be a Fourth Reich army.
“Maybe a part of the Bundeswehr would do OK against them but the other guys - the French, the “Belgians” (whoever they are) etc - will get stomped in a conventional fight.”
You have to be kidding. The Bundeswehr is a sad joke when compared to the French army of today. That is across the board, from the squad level riflemen, to armor, to air forces, up to and including nuclear weapons. The Germans today are deficient no matter what the metric, equipment, discipline, size, recent experience, you name it.
Please point us to any Bundeswehr unit that could even slightly impede a Russian invasion, or could even slightly equal the combat power of France today. It’s not even close.
The Germans are the weak sisters of Europe. As they really should be kept forever.