GETTY Jean-Claude Juncker has been a strong supporter of an autonomous EU army

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Critics branded bold plans published by the EU Commission today “unnecessary, irresponsible and unacceptable” and said eurocrats should stop trying to pool ever more military power in their own hands. Today EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini set out three visions for the future of European defence, all of which include tying member states’ forces ever closer together under the supervision of Brussels. Eurocrats openly favour what they describe as the “most ambitious” of the trio - a so-called Common Defence and Security policy - which would see Brussels put in charge of “high-end security and defence operations”. Under these proposals all member states would be obliged to come to the defence of a fellow EU member - equivalent to NATO’s Article 5 - with “a greater level of integration of Member States’ defence forces”.

Brussels would also support joint defence programmes through the EU budget and would set up a new European Defence Research Agency to develop weapons for the bloc, allowing “the creation of a genuine European defence market able to protect its key strategic activities from external takeovers”. That last line is a reference to many European member states’ current reliance on foreign arms manufacturers, particularly American ones, to supply weapons and military equipment for their armed forces. Italian eurocrat Ms Mogherini insisted at a press conference today that the plans do not amount to a militarisation of the bloc, saying that the “EU is not a military alliance and is not going to turn into a military alliance”. However, during the same meeting she also referred to “our men and women in uniform” whilst talking in an EU context and presented the announcement as a “true package on European defence that we’re presenting today”.

She also spoke about Brussels’ new Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) facility - an EU military HQ branded little more than call centre by UK officials - that is going live tomorrow. Ms Mogherini said: “As of tomorrow the European Union for the first time very will have a military structure at the Brussels level responsible for operational planning on non-executive military missions and their conduct.” And her denials that the plans represent a militarisation of the EU were met with astonishment by critics, who said they undermined Brussels’ core message that it is a peace project. Influential MEP Ska Keller, the president of the Greens grouping, said: “The European Commission's proposals would turn the European Union into a second NATO. We do not need unnecessary parallel structures for the defence of European territory, but closer cooperation between EU Member States.” She added: “We do not need more money for the defence industry, much less a new arms fund. The European Union should remain a peace project, with a focus on crisis prevention, mediation and diplomacy. “It is irresponsible and unacceptable for the European Commission to seek to allocate funds to the defence industry that are urgently needed elsewhere to fight unemployment, to support small and medium-sized enterprises and to strengthen weaker regions. This is not a sensible project for the future of the European Union."

Top EU officials earlier unveiled plans to spend cash from the centralised budget on weapons and military equipment for the first time ever, marking a significant shift in the nature of the project. Diplomats said the ultimate aim was to create a force which could rapidly intervene on behalf of Brussels in foreign war zones, citing simmering tensions in the Balkans as a particular concern. Remain campaigners including former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg openly mocked claims by the Leave camp that Brussels was planning its own military force, deriding them as lies. But EU Commission officials scarcely bother hiding their true intentions now that Britain has voted to leave the bloc, with defence having been catapulted to the top of the political agenda. Today Ms Mogherini - who has repeatedly denied the EU is creating an army - unveiled a modest £22 million fund directly from the Brussels budget, which is set to rise to a total of £79 million by 2020, the last year of the EU’s current spending bloc. But eurocrats have huge ambitions beyond that point and are pushing for a commitment of at least half a billion euros (£436m) a year to be included in the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for 2020-2027. It will be used for developing new weapons technologies, such as robotics and defence software, which will then be standardised across the bloc’s various militaries. Alongside this fund, known as a “research window” in Brussels circles, eurocrats also want to create a “capability window” which will see member states coordinate more closely on procurement. They hope to leverage around £4.4 billion in joint defence spending by getting member states to share the cost of new military hardware such as drones and helicopters.

4,000 NATO troops take part in Lithuania’s largest exercise near Russia’s border Mon, November 28, 2016 Eleven NATO countries have sent 4,000 troops to Lithuania, the largest Baltic nation, to participate in this year’s Iron Sword exercises. The war games are meant to test the country’s ability to rapidly deploy a large number of troops. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 36 Members of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade fire blanks from a machine gun during a simulated attack