Leaked German military documents detail plans in case of EU collapse

German contingency plans paint dark future of fractured Europe

German strategists have drawn up contingency plans for the potential disintegration of the EU (Getty)

A leaked German defence document has revealed the country’s long-term concerns over the stability of the European Union and depicts a possible future of surging extremism and terrorist activity.

The Bundeswehr (German military) document, published by Der Spiegel newspaper, outlines six plausible scenarios the German state may have to deal with by 2040.

The 120-page paper, titled Strategic Perspective 2040, predicts outcomes including the collapse of the EU, the disintegration of “the West”, divisions in Europe where some countries become increasingly allied to Russia, an increase in US isolationism, and China increasingly engaged in a cultural standoff with the Western world.

The worst case scenario, titled “EU in Disintegration and Germany in Reactive Position” portrays Europe suffering from “decades of instability.”

“EU enlargement has been largely abandoned, and more states have left the community,” the scenario reads.

“The increasingly disorderly, sometimes chaotic and conflict-prone, world has dramatically changed the security environment.”

"There are signs of the economic downfall and a backsliding of world politics. A "cycle of retreat" develops, which lets worldwide crises escalate.”

In another scenario, named “West against East”, the German military predicts that more states would seek to join an “eastern bloc” of countries similar to divisions across Europe during the mid-twentieth century.

According to Der Spiegel, the plans were drawn up two years ago, before Donald Trump had taken office and before Britain had voted to leave the European Union.

Since then several other factors support the document’s prediction that Europe will be “fraying at the edges” in the near future.

This year has seen the the far right in France make historic gains at the ballot box, meanwhile Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) crumbled at this year’s election, and Austria’s recent elections saw a victory for the right supported by a swing to the far-right.

The document was apparently first conceived in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

It also outlines other perceived threats to Germany, including disease epidemics, “drone swarms”, miniature nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and decreased national loyalties.