Four years after the start of the Ukraine war, is Europe ready to prepare its armed forces?

Europe has struggled over the past four years to come together to meet the challenge of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian threat and rising tensions with the United States under President Donald Trump have reinforced the suggestion that a single European military is the answer to Europe’s fragmentation, redundancies and duplication in defense efforts. The idea is almost as old as post-World War II European cooperation, but in 2026 it is the subject of intense debate.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Andrius Kubilius, the European Union’s defense and space commissioner, told CNBC that the EU should consider creating a 100,000-strong standing army to “fight as Europe.”

His words came after Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Álvarez told Reuters that Spain should “focus on the proper integration of its defense industry” and argued that “joint efforts are more efficient than 27 separate national armies.”

But the EU’s Kaja Kalas warned that having troops across Europe would be “very dangerous”, adding that EU supporters “have not thought this through in practical terms”. “You can’t create another military if you’re already part of NATO,” she said.

The idea of ​​a common European force was first discussed in 1951, when France proposed creating a common European force to counter the Soviet Union and prevent German rearmament from threatening its neighbors. However, this proposal was rejected by the French National Assembly three years later.

An analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies published in February last year urged European leaders to restart the debate, arguing that increased spending should go hand in hand with the reform and integration of European Armed Forces.

“This is a big challenge because European militaries are not designed to work with each other. They are designed to work with the United States,” Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who authored the report, told CNBC.

He said Europe’s response to the war would be “very confusing.” He added that the militaries of both countries operate different types of equipment and “spend a lot of money, but there is no coordination on how that money is spent. There are a lot of redundancies, duplications and inefficiencies.”

In recent years, the European Commission has committed to increasing the competitiveness and innovation of the European defense industry. To address some of the inefficiencies in the current system, the leaders also agreed to step up joint procurement efforts for ammunition, air defense, missile defense and legacy systems, with a total budget of 310 million euros ($364.8 million).

Some European leaders have suggested that Europe should focus on strengthening its position within NATO rather than pursuing an independent military.

Finnish President Alexander Stubbe told CNBC at the WEF last month that the region’s defense capabilities need to be used “nationally and in NATO, not as an EU military.”

“We need to strengthen the European pillar of NATO,” he said, adding: “We will do two things: strengthen the defense industry and, on the other hand, increase the capabilities of European countries.”

Several recent studies suggest that the atmosphere has changed since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

The EU Barometer survey shows that support for the EU’s common defense and security policy has increased over the past decade. In 2014, after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, it was 76%, but by spring 2025 it was 81%, the highest since 2004.

A YouGov poll from October last year asked Europeans whether they supported or opposed the creation of a regional army that would include their own armed forces, and 61% of Lithuanian respondents supported the idea. In Germany, 59% of those surveyed supported the proposal, while in Spain the figure was only 58%. More than half of those surveyed also supported the proposal in Denmark (56%) and France (55%).

“Electorally, this is by no means a loser,” Bergman told CNBC. “Some recent opinion polls show that Europeans are very nervous about their country’s security. They think the possibility of war is very real…When it comes to defense, they want some kind of fundamental change.”

Some security experts are skeptical that Europe’s sovereign militaries will appeal to voters, even in times of uncertainty.

Guntram Wolff, a senior research fellow at Bruegel University who specializes in defense economics and European rearmament, said the idea of ​​a sovereign European military is “very unlikely unless the situation changes dramatically.” He argues that people across Europe want their countries to achieve common defense.

“The public generally understands that it will be more effective and cost less. The war with Ukraine and the rift in transatlantic relations have made Europeans even more supportive of deeper European defense integration,” he told CNBC in an email.

Large-scale European defense cooperation is popular across Europe, but there are challenges, warns Liana Fix, senior fellow in Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“On the military side, the most important issues to resolve are decision-making and the European chain of command. So far, everyone is still relying on the NATO structure,” she said.

At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, under pressure from President Trump, member states pledged to increase defense spending to meet a new goal of 5% of GDP.

Spain was the only member state not to join the pledge. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he would limit the military budget to a “sufficient and realistic” level of just over 2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said in an interview with CNBC at the WEF that Spain needs to “make the most of” the funds “in terms of really strengthening our military, our defense industry, and our sovereignty over defense and security.”

“Spain will do everything in its power to fulfill its commitments in strengthening NATO’s capabilities…We will continue to be a reliable partner within NATO,” he added.