b'6. Security Union6.1. The European Army Chancellor Merkel joined President Macron in In November 2018, President Macron said inendorsing the creation of an EU army, saying:an interview with a French radio station: We"We have to create a European intervention have to protect ourselves with respect tounit with which Europe can act on the ground China, Russia and even the United States.where necessary I also have to say, seeing For the authorsgeneration ( at College in thethe developments of the recent years that we late 1960s ) , ifsomeone made that kind ofhave to work on a vision to establish a real utterance, that person would have had toEuropean army one day. 43&44Her party have been smoking something. But Presidentsuccessor, Germanys new Christian Democrat Macron was born only in 1977. The depressingleader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has truth is that he meant and means it.joined in to support the proposal. Her speech in Brussels in February 2019 focused on the Indeed, President Macron went on to say: idea of a Europe of security and she insisted an EU army was a logical step in pursuit ofWe will not protect Europeans unless wethat goal. 45 decide to have a true European army. 41Previously, he had pushed for a Europe-wideOn the legislative front, on June 28, 2018, rapid-reaction force to work with nationalthe European Defence Agency approved the armies and a common strategic culture of a2018 EU Capability Development Plan (CDP). joint European defence budget and policy. 42 The CDP serves as a basis for the decision- He also suggested the creation of a Europeanmaking process at EU and national levels intelligence academy to better fight againstregarding military capability development, terrorism and a joint civil protection force. contributing to increased coherence between member states defence planning.46 196'