Professor Ben Tonra:

In my view, there can be no autonomous EU military capacity. The EU is not a sovereign; it is composed of 27 sovereign member states. If those 27 sovereign member states choose to come together and provide a collective defence, which is one of their declared ambitions, they may do so, but it will be a defence that rests in the hands of 27 sovereign member states. The answer to the Senator's second question is almost equally short. The EU has no capacity to put boots anywhere because it does not have any boots.