‘The concept op a European Army is often used by liberal groups, and very also very ill-defined’, moderator Sebastian Vagt remarked in his opening statement in parliamentary press center Nieuwspoort and before an audience of around 80 people. With that, he provided the key-reason for organizing the roundtable discussion: working towards a clearer understanding of what a European army means to different people and why, and what the core challenges are to European military cooperation. Namely, until now, attempts of cooperation have mostly been half-hearted and not too successful. Since 2016 the political debate on and public perception of a European army has shifted. Does this bring us closer to a European army?
![](https://archive.liberalforum.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WhatsApp-Image-2019-07-05-at-14.14.38-960x720.jpeg)