<I doubt I will see a significant military force in any continental European country (excl. Russia) in my lifetime.>
The Greens are waffling, on this. On the one hand, they Believe in pacifism and instinctively support lower military budgets. On the other hand, they support a NATO-minus-the-U.S., and the implication of that is higher military budgets for Europe. For instance, the German Green Party (part of the ruling coalition) supported Regime Change in Afghanistan, but the German Army doesn't have the "distant force projection" capabilities to do that.
Interesting, how the European Greens, once they started achieving real power, became Realists:
The Green Party USA calls for activists and Greens worldwide to join in solidarity against the illegal U.S. war on the people of Afghanistan. We have urged a "hands off" policy in that region, but now we are disappointed to find some European Greens in government breaking solidarity and supporting our agressor government against Green values. We urgently call on Die Gruenen, the German Green Party, to come home, to reverse their vote and withdraw from their government coalition supporting this war. The historic Green committment to nonviolence means breaking the cycle of war and revenge, of patriarchal domination and corrupt corporate enclosure.
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