US-Led NATO in Spotlight as Europe Pushes Joint Army, Defenses

"Can you name which conflict the EU wanted to be involved with but didn't because it didn't have a command headquarters?" he asked. "Is there an example of a time when the Americans did not allow the Europeans to go fighting? A lot of this army plan is in the realm of make-believe." He said the motivation for the plans was "a desperate search for something to do … a project that will display the idea somehow that this EU is not about to be dismembered [by Brexit]." "This is not a Europe looking to the future," he said. "A shiny new building with a shiny new complement of officials is a very big waste of cash but there's nothing inherently anti-NATO, it's just a solution in search of a problem."