They are smart enough not to give it that actual title of course. It is instead the Border and Coastguard Corps but it will be given the same sort of power as an invading force. It will have the considerable power to take control of a nation’s borders without the consent of the relevant sovereign government.

So if it decrees that the French are not enforcing border control as robustly as they might it can march in and take control. Literally. Never one to miss out on the chance of a sly land grab, this is the European Commission’s response to the migrant crisis as voiced by President JeanClaude Juncker...

A 2,500-strong army (or “corps”), to be deployable within days, to secure the frontier of the Schengen unrestricted travel zone. They will have their own uniforms and be equipped with naval patrol craft, helicopters and drones. A base has been identified in Warsaw and, bizarrely, 1,000 officials will be housed there permanently, meaning the actual strength of the army is 1,500. It is as if each soldier gets his or her own pen-pusher.

It will surely fail. Error has been heaped upon error by the EU in the migrant crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel initially threw open her arms and bellowed “Willkommen!” like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music, only to recoil in horror weeks later as a million migrants took her up on her offer. The criminally weak European borders did virtually nothing to stem the flow of humanity that ensued and by virtue of the Schengen treaty, once they arrived there was nothing to stop their movement.

In the LBC televised Europe debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage that I hosted last year, Farage was ridiculed when he floated the idea that the EU wanted its own army. He seems now to have been on the money... or should that be the euro?

As PM David Cameron battles with other European leaders and gains little ground, the true intent of the European dream becomes clearer. And it is a dream that could be set to become a nightmare.