NATO is warning the European Union against duplicating military efforts after the president of the E.U. Commission proposed the creation of the an E.U. army. It comes as relations between Brussels and Moscow are at their lowest level since the end of the cold war. While the idea has little support, everyone agrees action is urgently needed to at least halt the shrinking military budgets of member states.

CCTV’s Jack Barton filed this report from Brussels.

Highlights:

• The European Union has common security, defense and foreign policies, but the bloc doesn’t have a single military force to back them. European Commission President Jean Claude Junker has said its time the E.U. forms an army.
• The idea of an E.U. army has the support of the European Federalist Party. Supporters say an E.U. military would bolster, not replace, NATO.
• There’s already growing military cooperation in Europe, especially between the British and French.
• In March, the German army announced that for the first time ever, it will place a battalion of 600 soldiers, under Polish command next year. Meanwhile, a Polish battalion will come under German command.
• Support for an E.U. military remains limited. Defense analysts say that Europe urgently needs greater integration between defense industries, institutions and military forces.

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Federiga Bindi, Cntr for Transatlantic Relations on EU Army creation

CCTV America interviewed Federiga Bindi for more insight on the possibility of an E.U. military force. Federiga is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations within he Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.