9 countries take the first step to an all-European Army

Europe will soon have a rapidly-deployable military force of its own. The powers that used to be have finally teamed up to coordinate military responses to developing crises and defense issues. France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Estonia, Portugal, and even the UK all signed off on the upcoming continental QRF.

It's an initiative spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to The Guardian. France's chief executive has long advocated for Europe's military autonomy as part of a greater European integration – with major European powers calling the shots.

An all-European military force also answers questions about the defense culture of the European Union, where France's Defence Minister says decisions and deadlines take much too long, getting gummed up in the bureaucracy of the 28-member organization.

The effort of raising this military force is called the "European Intervention Initiative" and is outside the structure of the European Union and its defense cooperation agreement, known as the Permanent Structure Cooperation on security and defence, or PESCO for short. There are 25 PESCO members

This new initiative comes as an effort to build the force while sidestepping the bureaucracy of the EU and allowing for the entry of the armed forces of the United Kingdom to take part, something London is "very keen" on entering with Europe, despite the Brexit vote.

Europe's new initiative is also outside of NATO and excludes the United States, with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis worrying that it would pull resources and capabilities away from NATO. But the Secretary-General of the Brussels-based military alliance welcomed the news.

"I welcome this initiative as I believe it can strengthen the readiness of forces," said NATO head Jens Stoltenberg. "We need high readiness and that is exactly what NATO is now focusing on."

Though later Stoltenberg stressed the importance of cooperation between the EU and NATO for any military initiative.

"We need to be able to move forces quickly throughout Europe, when needed," he said.

The European Union's armed forces, the European Defence Union, is currently organized into four multinational battle groups consisting of 546 ships, more than 2,400 aircraft, and almost 7,500 main battle tanks. None of the battle groups have ever deployed, but EU ships do participate in anti-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa.

This new force will be designed to rapidly deploy all over the world and will accept troops from countries who are not members of the European Union.