German vision of EU at war

THE catastrophic end of the European Union if other member states replicate Brexit has been imagined in secret German research.

Among scenarios drawn up by the country’s military is one of an ‘increasingly disorderly, sometimes chaotic and conflict-prone world’ that would ‘dramatically change’ the security environment of Europe.

The paper outlines six outcomes that could play out over the next decades until 2040 and shape Germany’s defence policy. Its worst-case scenario imagines other countries cutting ties with Brussels by 2040 in an chaotic political landscape where conflicts are much more frequent.

The document, leaked to Der Spiegel magazine, also includes positive views in which the EU keeps growing.