It’s funny because I was reading a report on EU defense preparedness the other day (https://fundacionalternativas.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/INFORME_DEFENSA_2026.pdf) and it was describing how UK, France and Germany never agreed on how to respond to wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Syria (some countries wanted to intervene and some didn’t, depending on their internal politics). In the most important cases EU was never able to present a common front and respond cohesively. But yes, technically EU is able to conduct military missions and it did in some cases.
You’re actually right, EU does have common defence policy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Security_and_Defence_Policy
It’s funny because I was reading a report on EU defense preparedness the other day (https://fundacionalternativas.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/INFORME_DEFENSA_2026.pdf) and it was describing how UK, France and Germany never agreed on how to respond to wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Syria (some countries wanted to intervene and some didn’t, depending on their internal politics). In the most important cases EU was never able to present a common front and respond cohesively. But yes, technically EU is able to conduct military missions and it did in some cases.