Crimea is the start of Russian expansion. Georgia is the model for how they will take over all the previous USSR vassal states. If European governments seriously think that the US will draw a line in the sand and spend the kind of blood and treasure it will take to defend them they are seriously deluded.
Putin rightly sees weakness in Western Europe and will take as much advantage as those Western European states will let him. As currently envisioned the “European Army” has no credibility as a check on Russian expansionism.