Europe needs to create a common army now that the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview with the Times.

It is a “necessary objective to have a European army,” said Frattini. “Europe could deploy a joint naval fleet or air force in the Mediterranean: Why not?” he said. “We could say, look, one group of nations is ready at once, and leave the door open for others to join, as with the euro.” He said that the Lisbon Treaty allows “that if some countries want to enter into reinforced cooperation between themselves they can do so.”

“Take Afghanistan,” he said. “At present President Obama asks Poland, or Italy, or Great Britain for more troops. If there were a European army, he would have a ‘toolbox’ to draw from. He might need 30 airplanes: He would be able to ask if the European army was in a position to provide them.”

At the moment, Frattini said, “every country duplicates its forces, each of us puts armored cars, men, tanks, planes, into Afghanistan. If there were a European army, Italy could send planes, France could send tanks, Britain could send armored cars, and in this way we would optimize the use of our resources. Perhaps we won’t get there immediately, but that is the idea of a European army.”

Afghanistan, said Frattini, has shown that Europe’s armies can work together. “There are no problems in current crisis areas. We work well together in Afghanistan. In the province of Herat, we Italians work with the Spanish. Why not form a common force? This would also bring economic benefits, because the countries involved would share the costs of military engagement overseas.”

Europe needs to become more unified in its overall policy, he said. “If we do not find a common foreign policy,” he warned, “there is the risk that Europe will become irrelevant. We will be bypassed by the G-2 of America and China …. We need political will and commitment, otherwise the people of Europe will be disillusioned and disappointed. People expect a great deal of us.”

Frattini is by no means the first European leader to call for a common EU army. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and even British Defense Secretary John Hutton have all called for the creation of some kind of pan-European army. But with the Lisbon Treaty coming into force in December, a European army could become a reality very soon.

Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of the Trumpet’s predecessor, the Plain Truth, predicted, based on Bible prophecy, that European nations would combine their militaries into one large force. “Ten powerful European nations will combine their forces. It will be a gigantic, powerful empire! It will field the combined armies of 10 nations,” he wrote in 1953 (Good News, May 1953). This prophecy is nearing fulfillment, as the Italian foreign minister’s statements indicate. For more details on what God prophesied for Europe through Mr. Armstrong, read our article “Is a World Dictator About to Appear?”