When discussions began in 1950 about the possibility of using German troops to assist in the defence of NATO, some of the European Allies, in particular France, were concerned about the prospect of rearming Germany so soon after the end of World War 2.

 

French premier René Pleven therefore came up with a proposal known as the Pleven Plan to form a multinational European defence force containing German troops rather than allow the formation of a national German army.

 

On 27 May 1952 France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) signed a treaty creating the European Defence Community (EDC). For the next two years considerable planning was done on the best way to create this new European Army that was to be firmly embedded within NATO and have multinational divisions and even a common uniform, weapons and budget.

 

The EDC project – and with it the European Army – collapsed when the French parliament failed to ratify the treaty on 30 August 1954. Afterward negotiations began on revising the Brussels Treaty of 1948 and admitting Germany to NATO, which occurred in 1955.