Four years into the Ukraine war, is Europe ready for its own army?

Europe has struggled to unite to meet the challenges of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the last four years.

The threat from Russia, and the growing tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump, have fueled suggestions that the answer to Europe’s divisions, redundancies and duplications in its defense efforts is a single European army. The idea is almost as old as post-Second World War European cooperation, but it’s been the subject of intense discussion in 2026.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Andrius Kubilius, the European Union’s Commissioner for defense and space, told CNBC that the EU should consider establishing a standing military force of 100,000 troops, to be able to “fight as Europe.”

His words come after Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, told Reuters that the continent should “focus on properly integrating its defense industry,” arguing that a “joint effort would be more efficient than 27 separate national armies.”

But the EU’s Kaja Kallas has warned a Europe-wide army would be “extremely dangerous,” adding its advocates “haven’t really thought this through practically.” “If you are already part of NATO then you can’t create a separate army,” she said.

The idea of a common European army was first mooted in 1951, when France suggested a joint European force to counter the Soviet Union and to ensure that German rearmament did not threaten its neighbors. But the proposal was voted down in 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 reopen discussions and argued that higher spending should go hand in hand with reform and integration of European defense 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 Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who wrote the report, told CNBC.

He said Europe’s response to any war would be “very messy.” He added that the countries’ militaries operate different types of equipment and are “spending a lot of money, but they are not coordinating how they are spending that money. There’s a lot of redundancies, duplication, as well as inefficiencies there.”

In recent years, the European Commission has pledged to boost the competitiveness and innovation of the European defense industry. To address some of the inefficiencies in the current system, leaders have also agreed to step up efforts of joint procurement of ammunition, air and missile defense, as well as 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 pursue an independent armed force.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told CNBC at WEF last month that the region’s defense capability had to be “used nationally and in NATO, not as an EU army.”

“We need to strengthen the European pillar of NATO,” he said, adding: “We do two things: we boost our defense industry… and on the second hand, we increase the capabilities of European states.”

Some recent surveys have suggested that the mood has shifted since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

The EU Barometer survey showed that support for a common EU defense and security policy has risen over the past decade. It stood at 76% in 2014 after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea and was 81% in the spring of 2025, the highest since 2004.

When Europeans were asked about support or opposition to the creation of a regional army that included forces from their own country, 61% of respondents in Lithuania backed the idea, according to a YouGov poll in October last year. In Germany, 59% of those surveyed favoured the proposal, whilst in Spain, that number stood at 58%. More than half of those surveyed in Denmark (56%) and in France (55%) also backed the proposal.

“Electorally, this is by no means a loser,” Bergmann told CNBC. “Some of the recent polling has shown that Europeans are very nervous about their own security. They think that the potential for war is very real… they want, sort of, radical change when it comes to defense.”

Some security experts are skeptical the idea of a sovereign European army would win over voters, even in uncertain times.

Guntram Wolff, a senior fellow at Bruegel, who specialises in defense economics, as well as European rearmament, said the idea of a sovereign European army was “quite unlikely, unless circumstances change dramatically.” He argues that citizens throughout Europe would prefer if their countries delivered on joint defense.

“Citizens have by and large understood that it would be more effective and cost less. With the war against Ukraine and the fracturing transatlantic relationship, European citizens have become even more supportive of deeper European defense integration,” he told CNBC via email.

Greater European defense cooperation is popular across Europe — but there are challenges, warned Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“On the military side, the most important questions to solve are decision-making and European command structures. So far, everyone is still relying on NATO structures,” she said.

At the NATO summit in the Hague last year, member states pledged to boost defense spending to meet a new target of 5% of GDP, after pressure from Trump.

Spain was the only member that opted out of the pledge. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the country would cap its military budget at the “sufficient and realistic” level of just over 2% of GDP.

In an interview with CNBC at WEF, Spain’s economy minister, Carlos Cuerpo, said the country needs to make “best use” of its money “in terms of really reinforcing our army, our defense industry and our sovereignty around defense and security.”

“Spain will do its utmost to live up to its commitments within NATO capability reinforcement… we will be a reliable partner within NATO as we have always been,” he added.