Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There are times when debate in this House is surreal, and this is one of them. Apparently, we are just dreaming up the idea that there are moves in the EU to create a European army.

This is a German-led EU battle group so what did Chancellor Angela Merkel say, as the German head of state? She said, in front of the European Parliament at the beginning of this year: "We have to look at the vision of one day creating a real, true, European army." A couple of days before that, she signed an accord with Emmanuel Macron, also a supporter of an EU army, which said they wanted to create a common military culture as a step towards the creation of a European army. That is what the battle groups are about.

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