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Useful for subduing dissent in the colonies of a federal Europe, at some point in the near future…? We have Nato…(if like Trump said everybody pays their fair share…)…This would be overkill,…(pardon the pun)…
No spin, …if you read the report on Merkel, her enthusiasm for a 'proper EU army is palpable…I would have no problem with a call to increase the budget for Nato & better resource individual countries …but, like the enthusiasm for the Common Market in the UK, years ago, it could easily change overnight into a ‘Hotel California type institution’ & ‘morph’ into something that was not intended (apart from the shadowy ‘powers that be’…pulling the strings & setting things up…and telling us not to worry.)…Caveat Emptor…
What’s the problem with an EU army - someone care to enlighten me?
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You obviously trust Trump more than myself.
Europe should provide a bulwark between the USA and Russia.
Does the world really need another ‘army’ and with many EU countries in debt where is the money coming from?
Well, that’s the point @tim17
It’s not another new army but a combination/coordination of existing… not unlike the UK using the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle because it didn’t have one of its own 
There would be savings by combining resources…
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Total waste of time and money, try asking Spain (who are about to have another GE because they can’t agree a budget) to get involved in an EU army.
I’m all for it - safety in numbers etc 
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The army has always been a good place for young men with few qualifications and no particular vocation, with current levels of unemployment in Europe I see plenty of teenagers who think the army is the place for them.
I should think their joining up is a lot better for everyone than having them hanging around, living on odd jobs, petty crime or longterm unemployment.
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Imagine all those unemployed youth learning how to paint coal white. I think the creation of real youth job opportunities is the real objective here. Many would consider forced conscription into “the army”, in peace time, as an infringement of their liberty.
It isn’t conscription I am thinking of, it is all my pupils over the years who have wanted to join the army because their other job prospects are a bit bleak, and they will have a better life by joining up. I have a couple of redoublants this year who see it as their best choice. I have other pupils who go to prépa do the competition and then go in as officers with a 5 year diplôme d’ingénieur under their belt.
They either stay in or come out and as they will have learnt a trade and grown up they will probably be ok.
Sometimes they won’t, one of my pupils from 6 years ago who joined up was killed in Mali in a stupid accident changing a tyre last year.
It isn’t at all a question of painting coal white etc, we don’t really believe in completely pointless activity as a reinforcement of discipline.
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I get you now - I thought you were advocating a forced national service. I agree the armed services offer an excellent career opportunity. I’m just not in favour of governments mopping up lost generations into national service. 
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I think the BBC has a way of phrasing things to put the idea they want in people’s minds It is all perfectly legal and honest but there
I notice you follow posting of article by a piece loosely talking about émotive language. Indeed the independent piece is an excellent example of emotive phrases. As is your reply to me.
However the future of the EU, federal or otherwise, is not within the scope of the UK anymore. Although of course it will continue to effect us. Did not this idea of an army come from the ineffectiveness of the nato forces during the Balkan crises in the 90s? My reading of the article is that AM has finally started to agree with the french that an army is needed following the isolationist rhetoric of Trump. She stated the leaving of the UK will ‘deeply wound’ (emotive lanaguag) the EU but it does remove one of the votes against such an army.
I share your concern for the future of Europe. In 2008 there was a Davos speech that predicted a difficult future for. Europe due to a number of factors not least of which was climate change and Europe’s falling economic and political status in the world leading to civil unrest, the rise of extremist parties, and massive movement of peoples. This seems to have been the case in the following ten years and Brexit is only one of the symptoms. The UK has decided to give up its role to effect change in Europe but it cannot leave Europe and will continue to be part of whatever future awaits the rest of the continent.
All of us in Europe face an uncertain future. I think it’s a shame Britain will cede even more control if that future.
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Not at all! That’s your opinion and you are perfectly entitled to it - I just don’t agree!
X
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Surely ‘young people’, young women also need direction, support and a vocation. 
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Yes quite so , however the ones I have come across who want to go into the army with just the bac (or more likely without it) are all boys.
Do you believe that joining the army is the best way to achieve this ?
Vero is just stating what she has found in her experience.
I have a friend who teaches in a convent school which is just a depository for parents who cannot be bothered to discipline or encourage their children.
Is it fair for these children to grow up without any idea of what is needed in adult life?
We are not talking of the two year’s national service which some of my male friends had to undergo, but a form of social service to try and expand the horizons of many young people.
One of my friends who had a degree in French did his national service in the intelligence branch and was in the same sergeant’s mess as Elvis!