Despite issues, PESCO continues to move forward: reports suggest that the USA is concerned

PESCO logo (via Wikipedia)

COGwriter

The European Union continues to work on having a more united European military defense strategy with its organization called PESCO (which stands for PErmanent Structured COoperation):

PESCO: This EU defense project works in practice – “Network of LogHubs in Europe and Support to Operations”

European defense policy often resembles a paper tiger: Grand visions, ambitious feasibility studies, and billion-euro budgets frequently end in bureaucratic stagnation and unilateral national actions. Yet, at a time when the continent’s security architecture is being shaken to its core, a seemingly insignificant project is coming into focus, proving that European military cooperation can indeed work. The PESCO project “Network of LogHubs in Europe and Support to Operations” connects national military depots into an intelligent, cross-border logistics network. What initially sounds like dry administrative organization is proving to be a strategic milestone for NATO and the EU. Led by Germany, this network demonstrates how shared infrastructure can revolutionize troop mobility, reduce costs, and translate the much-vaunted European strategic sovereignty from theory into reality. …

The PESCO project “Permanent Structured Cooperation” is considered by many observers to be the most practical and tangible example of European defense cooperation. Unlike numerous other projects under the umbrella of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which often remain at the level of declarations of intent and feasibility studies, this network has already had a real, operational impact. It connects existing national military logistics sites into a common system and has already been used in practice …

A particularly telling indicator of the strategic importance now attributed to the project is the planned expansion of the German LogHub site in Pfungstadt. There, approximately 40,000 square meters of warehouse space are to be cleared in existing halls by 2024 at the latest. Furthermore, an expansion and technological modernization of the site, with an investment volume of around €210 million, is planned by 2028. This sum underscores that this is no longer a purely conceptual project, but rather a real investment in critical infrastructure, both in terms of construction and technology.

The planned modernization explicitly aims to integrate digital technologies for managing material flows, which should make the network not only more efficient but also more resilient and flexible. …

The LogHub network is part of a broader European effort to improve military mobility across the continent. The Council of the European Union has set itself the goal of creating an EU-wide military mobility area by the end of 2027 as a first step towards the gradual realization of this capability. By the end of 2026, Member States are to implement a total of 13 concrete commitments, including prioritizing investments in transport infrastructure for military movements and accelerating authorization procedures for cross-border troop movements. …

To properly contextualize the LogHub project, it is worthwhile to examine the overall record of PESCO. Initiated in 2017, the Permanent Structured Cooperation now comprises 26 member states participating in well over 60 ongoing projects. …

Overall, the PESCO LogHub network represents one of the more tangible success stories within the often sobering record of European defense cooperation. 08/03/26 https://xpert.digital/en/network-of-loghubs-in-europe-and-support-to-operations/

The intent of PESCO is to have a large European military force.

The USA has procurement and other concerns about European military spending (https://www.reuters.com/world/us-officials-object-european-push-buy-weapons-locally-2025-04-02/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

Notice something about it, Donald Trump, and Greenland:

Greenland in the US Grand Strategy: Keeping the EU and PESCO Out

8 March 2026

There is one objective the US cannot secure in Greenland under the current status quo, and that is to keep out the EU’s newly established defence cooperation, called Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO).

This helps explain why the US seeks full control of Greenland. Other explanations, such as Trump’s personal political ambitions or access to natural resources, can also play a role, but function largely as political noise that obscures the real underlying interests.

This is a systemic and long-term US policy that predates the Trump administration. It is rooted in US’s quest to maintain global dominance in the 21st century, where the EU, alongside China and Russia, has long been viewed as a strategic competitor.

As long as European states depend on US security structures through NATO and US intelligence services, European sovereignty remains limited. PESCO, established in 2017, was designed to alter this dependency. As it expands, it has the potential to develop into a major EU defence and intelligence structure, reducing US influence over European policymaking, and can over time render NATO redundant. …

The Establishment of PESCO

In the 1990s, concern grew in Europe over US military and economic dominance, particularly in larger states such as France and Germany. This revived the idea of European defence cooperation outside NATO’s shadow and US control.

From this perspective, the US focus on annexing Greenland appears central to its long-term strategic interests, and connects decades of efforts to prevent Eurasian integration. …

Denmark joined PESCO in 2022, and Greenland, which had been a closed US strategic zone for more than 70 years, can be seen as opened to PESCO.

In this context, PESCO’s access to Greenland can weaken US control over the Arctic-Atlantic region, an area of increasing importance for shipping routes, digital infrastructure, and access between Europe and Asia as climate change makes these routes more viable.

PESCO has expanded relatively rapidly over 10 years, from 17 joint projects to more than 70 joint projects, covering areas such as, military mobility, surveillance, command and control, cyber capabilities, and space-based systems. Several of these projects are directly relevant to the Arctic region, most notably the Arctic Command and Control Effector and Sensor System (ACCESS), indicating a dedicated focus on developing capabilities relevant to the Arctic theatre.

As the EU becomes less dependent on US security structures, it gains greater freedom to pursue independent policies that enable deeper cooperation and economic integration across Eurasia. https://countercurrents.org/2026/03/greenland-in-the-us-grand-strategy-keeping-the-eu-and-pesco-out/

Consider, also, that it was right after Donald Trump’s first election in 2016 that Europe formally decided that it needed its OWN military alliance–and it then formed the one called PESCO.

Some have called PESCO Europe’s “last chance” as the following from the Spring of 2024 declared:

PESCO: the last chance

La Council Decision 2017/2315 which established the Permanent Structured Defense Cooperation (PESCO) stated that “A long-term vision for PESCO could be to arrive at a coherent package of forces for the entire spectrum (a coherent full spectrum force package) of military operations …

The new strategic situation demands a new posture of European forces. All troops from all European Allies / EU Member States added together They do not constitute a complete set of forces capable of acting throughout the entire spectrum of possible operations. Furthermore, in many essential areas European armies have little or no capacity; They are only fully operational if the United States makes up the difference. In view of the current North American strategy, this represents an unacceptable strategic risk. …

Europeans will also have to rebuild for themselves the logistical depth (in relation, for example, to the strength of supply chains, the production of military material or in terms of maintenance capacity) and the military mobility necessary to sustain this package of forces. …

A credible European expeditionary force requires nations to assign entire brigades (and air squadrons, and ships…) and train them as part of a community force package (within the global package of European forces) within the framework of periodic multinational maneuvers. …

PESCO could be the central mechanism through which EU Member States wishing to cooperate to achieve capabilities objectives translate them into concrete initiatives and direct all defense cooperation within the EU framework, both within the of the CSDP and that of the Commission. …

PESCO would benefit greatly from the existence of a permanent presidency; …

EU Member States … must … build on this idea to advance the objectives that would lead to a complete and coherent European force package. 04/18/24 https://www.revistaejercitos.com/en/focus/european-defense/I-catch-the-last-chance/

Despite issues with PESCO, European leaders have concluded that it is not in their interest to rely on the US for defense.

In November 2018, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:25

Here is a link to the sermonette video: PESCO and a Great European Army.

Notice also:

10 January 2019

‘This community needs to be able to defend itself’: Germany’s defence minister says the EU is already building a ‘united’ army

• German defence minister says how Europe is already creating a joint force
• Ursula von der Leyen said Germany and France are the ‘driving forces’ of defence
• She hit back at those sceptical at the European Union’s PESCO defence scheme
• One PESCO project, adopted in late November, involves France, Belgium and Cyprus developing a Beyond Line of Sight Land Battlefield missile systems family …

The PESCO scheme, an acronym for Permanent Structured Cooperation, involves 25 armies working with one another.

One such project, adopted in late November, involves France, Belgium and Cyprus developing a Beyond Line of Sight Land Battlefield missile systems family.

Another project, adopted in March last year, involves Greece, Italy and Slovakia developing and building a prototype European Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

She said that 25 countries had joined ‘not because we’re following requirements from Brussels but voluntarily because the benefits are obvious and because it’s in Europe’s security interests’. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6579077/Germanys-defence-minister-says-EU-building-united-army.html?ITO=applenews

November 10, 2019

With less than a month until the next big NATO meeting, scheduled for the first week of December, France’s Macron has jumped into public relations mode to prepare the public for some big changes on the horizon. Indeed, Macron’s major interview with the Economist on November 7th on the question of the US’s alleged wavering commitment to NATO is a stunning sign of the times.

Europe wants its own Army

Cutting through a lot of intentionally confusing messaging, is that France and Germany are just fine with any end to NATO because it helps justify the coming European Army – one that they want, and believe they need anyhow. It only happens to be part of the same reality that US hegemony, and its ability to finance NATO in turn, are coming to an end. In sounding more like a radical post-structuralist international relations theorist than a fiscally conservative leader of a capitalist democracy, Macron shocked the world when he stated in no uncertain terms that this period we are in marks the end of ‘Western Hegemony’. …

We will recall when President George W Bush attacked Iraq, it came not long after moves by the Iraqi government to do their oil dealings in Euros. The Europe-wide hatred for Bush’s war on Iraq seemed to the politically naïve as an expression of social-democratic pacifism, but in reality was an expression of Europe’s sovereign financial interests versus dollar hegemony. These questions really have not gone away. …

Macron’s apparent lamentations over the ‘brain death’ of NATO is quite revealing. In this, he refers to truths that everyone knew, but couldn’t say: “NATO is essentially a military occupying force against European sovereignty – for the EU to be a geostrategic entity, it must be in control of its own military forces”. …

Macron has iterated the call for an EU army a number of times. … Back in August, speaking on how isolating Russia is a mistake, Macron explained that “Western hegemony” is over. This leave us an interesting formula: Western hegemony is over, European regional hegemony must begin. …

Turkey is NATO’s second largest army after the US.

Macron isn’t wrong then to imply – what is NATO without the US and Turkey? It is the European Army. This is the view which both France and Germany enter into the December meeting with. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/10/end-nato-macron-laments-brain-death-pushes-for-european-military/

Donald Trump’s NATO statements have encouraged that (see also Donald Trump allegedly saying United States should leave NATO, while PESCO is building a European army).

Europe is again concerned about a Donald Trump presidency and its military.

Notice also the following which is in our free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?:

Donald Trump also upset many in Europe by calling NATO “obsolete.” [i]

Furthermore, he called out many European countries for not paying enough on the military in relationship to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He also threatened to NOT defend NATO nations that would not spend more on their militaries.[ii]

While many in the Trump-Pence Administration thought that the Europeans would have no choice but to cater to their demands, the Europeans moved in a way many did not expect. Less than one year after the Trump-Pence Administration began, 25 European countries formed a pan-European military alliance called the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). [iii] That number has risen to 26.

The Europeans became even more concerned about Donald Trump once again becoming U.S.A. president—and the Trump presidency is pushing them to be more independent of the U.S.A.

The second Trump administration has supercharged the EU’s push for independence. It has prompted European governments to get far more serious about reducing their military and security dependence on the US and to reduce their broader external trade vulnerabilities. This is now the unrivalled driving force behind most European foreign and security policies. [iv]

Europe already has its own space agency, satellite system, and many other military components.

For decades, Washington has pushed the Europeans to spend more on their militaries. The U.S.A. needs to be careful about what it has been asking for. Although it is true that the U.S.A. contributes a vastly disproportionate share to NATO, the more the Europeans themselves spend, the more independent they will be about their spending and military priorities.

Since the Bible says that Europe will have a “great army” (Daniel 11:25), we know Europe will end up with a great army. It will also end up with a substantial navy as the Bible says it will have “many ships” (Daniel 11:40). Europe is prophesied be an amazingly marvelous military power that will surprise the world (Revelation 13:3-4).

This will not end well for the U.S.A. or the other Israelitish nations. The media says that U.S.A. has been turning allies into frenemies [v], which is consistent with prophecies in Lamentations 1:1-2.

Europe to Rise Up

Germans and others see the U.S.A. declining. Europe will go in a direction that U.S.A. leaders, including its ‘foreign policy experts,’ do not comprehend (Daniel 11:39; Isaiah 10:5-11).

[i] Trump worries Nato with ‘obsolete’ comment. BBC, Janaury 16, 2017

[ii] Trump defence chief Mattis threatens less commitment to Nato. January 15, 2017; ^{Sanger DE, Haberman M. Donald Trump Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack. New York Times, July 20, 2016}

[iii] ^{Stur B. The making of a European Defence Union. New Europe. December 12, 2017}

[iv] ^{Youngs R. To win freedom from Trump’s America, Europe needs to overcome its ‘downward coping syndrome’. The Conversation, March 13, 2026}

[v] ^{e.g. US in Brief: Enemies and frenemies. The Economist, July 8, 2026}

Current leaders in the European Union are more and more calling for the Europeanization of national militaries and the increased ability to function militarily without the USA.

They are helping to set the stage for what is coming.

Furthermore, the Bible shows that Europe will reorganize and become totalitarian:

12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:12-13)

This Beast leader will eliminate the Anglo-American world order with a new, and even worse, world order.

PESCO looks to be part of how that will happen. Consider PESCO in the view of something Herbert W. Armstrong wrote decades ago:

European leaders are conferring hurriedly and secretly about how and how soon they may UNITE and provide a united EUROPEAN MILITARY FORCE so they can DEFEND THEMSELVES! And so they will no longer have to give in meekly to Russia! And WHO WILL THEY BLAME for their humiliation and their necessity NOW to have a UNITED EUROPE, with a united GOVERNMENT, a COMMON CURRENCY, and a COMMON MILITARY FORCE AS GREAT OR GREATER THAN EITHER THE U.S.S.R. OR THE U.S.A.? They will blame the United States!

And when they are strong enough to assert themselves, Bible prophecy reveals a man will rise to take the helm in Europe and will first attack Britain for standing firm with the United States, and then they will return a lot of hydrogen bombs the U.S. has stored now in Europe! (Armstrong HW. Where Does the U.S. Go from Here? Plain Truth, April 1980)

Well, since that writing, the European Union formed, the euro was introduced, PESCO was formed, the Europeans are again fearful of Russia, the Europeans blame the USA for many things, and the Europeans have increased military spending.

However, at this stage it would seem it would be at least as likely as the USA would be hit by the coming European Beast before the UK as the other way around. Related to that point, Herbert Armstrong also wrote:

What is this abomination? This refers to Daniel 11:31 and Matthew 24:15…That will be a time when the UNITED Europe shall appear–the revival of the medieval “Holy Roman Empire.” We shall then be warned, and readied to be taken to a place of refuge and safety from the Great Tribulation. Forty-five days later “the beasts armies” will surround Jerusalem. Thirty days later the Great Tribulation will probably start with a nuclear attack on London and Britain–and possibly the same day or immediately after, on the United States and Canadian cities. The GREAT TRIBULATION, we shall fully then realize, is the time of “Jacob’s Trouble,” spoken of in Jeremiah 30:7. And Jacob’s name was named on Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:16). At that time a third of the people in our nations will die, or shall have died, by famine and disease epidemics; another third will dies of the war–our cities being destroyed (Ezek. 6:6), and the remaining third will be carried to the land of our enemies as slaves (Ezek. 5:12). (Armstrong HW. The Time We Are In, Now. Pastor General’s Report-Vol 1, No. 15, November 20, 1979, Page 2).

This will not end well for the USA, nor Canada, the UK, Australia, or New Zealand. Nor, according to the Bible, will it end well for the Muslim nations  (cf. Daniel 11:40-43)–nor, ultimately for Europe itself (cf. Daniel 11:44-45; Revelation 17:14).