Spain urges EU to create joint army amid Greenland dispute

Spain is urging the European Union to move toward creating a joint European army as a deterrence measure, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Reuters on Wednesday ahead of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Albares said the bloc should first focus on pooling tangible military assets and properly integrating Europe’s defence industry, before mobilising what he described as a “coalition of the willing.”

Debate over whether European citizens would be prepared to assemble militarily was “legitimate,” he said, but the likelihood of achieving a critical mass was greater at the EU level than through individual nations. “A joint effort would be more efficient than 27 separate national armies,” Albares added.

His comments come ahead of an emergency meeting of EU leaders later on Thursday in Brussels, convened to coordinate a common response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to buy or annex Greenland. An EU Council spokesperson confirmed late Wednesday that the meeting would still go ahead, despite Trump’s social media announcement that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had “formed the framework of a deal.”

Speaking after talks in New Delhi with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, which included discussions on deepening defence ties, Albares stressed that a European army would not be intended to replace NATO, underlining the continued importance of the transatlantic alliance.

“But we need to demonstrate that Europe is not a place that will let itself be coerced militarily or economically,” he said.

Spain’s position had not changed despite Trump later rowing back his Greenland threats after speaking with Rutte, a senior foreign official said, adding that Madrid welcomed any pathway for dialogue within the NATO framework “if that pathway is confirmed.”

The idea of integrating national armed forces into a supranational European army was first proposed in 1951, aimed at countering the Soviet Union and managing German rearmament, but was rejected by France’s parliament in 1954.

“European defence was part of the origin of the EU,” Albares said. “It is up to my generation to finish this task.”