BRUSSELS - Support for a European Union army is growing in the Netherlands amid concerns about conflicts at the EU borders and uncertainty about American support if Donald Trump becomes president of the United States again. 48 percent of Dutch consider a European army a good plan, up from 39 percent a year ago, according to an EenVandaag poll among 23,000 members of its opinion panel. 

A year ago, Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine was already a concern for many. This year, Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip added another level to those fears. Because of the unrest so close to EU borders, proponents of an EU army believe that European countries need to act jointly and decisively to “defend our freedoms.” 83 percent pointed out that the Netherlands is too small to deal with such external threats. 

78 percent said that European countries are currently too dependent on NATO support from the United States and must be able to stand more on their own feet in the military field. Earlier this year, presidential candidate Trump said that he would not assist NATO countries that do not meet the standard of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense in the event of a Russian attack. 

36 percent of EenVandaag’s respondents are against the idea of a European army. They see practical objections, like the language barrier or cultural differences posing a problem. They also think it would take too long for various participating countries to agree on the deployment of such an army. 

Dutch MEPs Thijs Reuten (PvdA) and Bart Groothuis (VVD) also don’t think a European army is a good idea, though they consider further defense cooperation in Europe vital. 

“It would be ridiculous if we soon let Romanian and Spanish MEPs and a Danish European Commissioner decide on the deployment of Dutch boys and girls,” Groothuis told the program. “We have, of course, had a European army for a long time; it's called NATO. We must ensure that we can act with the European NATO countries if necessary.” 

“Countries will always keep their own equipment and personnel,” Reuten said, calling “whether you call it an army or not” a bit of a pointless discussion. “What matters is that you create multinational, quickly deployable units and coordinate tasks, not do things twice. We have to do things together and buy things together.”