BRITAIN is sleepwalking into becoming part of an EU army and must take immediate measures to “extricate” itself from the bloc’s defence plans, one of the country’s most respected military commanders said today.
Major-General Julian Thompson told express.co.uk that ministers are quietly signing up to “vast military plans” devised by Brussels whilst the public gaze is largely on Brexit. 
In a blistering intervention he said proposals put forward by eurocrats will “touch every part of the UK's defence policy” and warned the UK could become militarily tied to Brussels for year’s to come. 
The war hero, who led the landing mission to the Falklands, entered the debate after EU officials unveiled their most ambitious military plans yet which critics have said amount to the effective creation of a euro force. 
Foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini’s plans for a massive EU defence fund and greater mission control from Brussels drew scorn from commentators who accused her of trying to turn the bloc into a “second NATO”.
They include proposals to make it obligatory for EU countries to defend a fellow member state under attack and the setting up of a European Defence Research Agency to develop weapons for the bloc. 

Speaking exclusively to express.co.uk Major-General Thompson said the fact that UK ministers have signed up to all recent EU defence agreements should set alarm bells ringing about the proposals. 
He said: “The EU's vast military plans, which have gone virtually unnoticed in the UK yet approved by our diplomats and ministers, touch every part of the UK's defence policy from intelligence and deployment to procurement and finance. 
"When even the EU Commission is expressing surprise at UK willingness to conform, its clear something has gone wrong with the UK's stance. At the heart of this is a mindset problem.

The kind interpretation of that is "weird" or "incompetent". The other is "cynical" or "sinister".