German military capability could advance

Germany has a critical role to play if the EU – either as a bloc or as a looser collection of states – is to play a bigger security role in the world. "In defence capability, there is a huge gap between the French and British on the one hand and the rest of the EU on the other," says Tomas Valasek of the Centre for European Reform. "The only country sitting in that gap is Germany." If it moves closer to France and Britain in terms of deployability, that makes "a big difference" to European capabilities. "Abolishing conscription is essential, because you cannot deploy conscripts on active operations ... He is also cutting into heavy armour, such as tanks, which is very much [of] a cold war past."