Scottish Campaign against Euro-Federalism
Text Box: EU and Militarisation Text Box: How the EU’s military force has developed The first military force was established under the auspices of the Western European Union as EuroFor (European Operation Rapid Force) in 1995 and was actively involved in NATO’s interventions in the Balkans The EU European Battle Groups programme was initiated under the terms of the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997. The Treaty created a High Representative for the EU’s Common and Security Policy. The EU Helsinki summit of 1999 elaborated plans for a military capability target of 2007. The meeting of EU defence ministers of May 2004 agreed detailed plans for a force of 60,000 which could be deployed outside the NATO sphere and would have naval (aircraft carriers and destroyers) and air support. This force is now operational. Since 2003 there have been EU military missions in Bosnia,. Moldova, Georgia, DR Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Chad, Central African republic and DR Congo. How the Lisbon Treaty develops it The Lisbon Treaty sets out the new obligations of member states to the Common Security and Defence Policy within Article 42 Obligation to participate in mutual defence “If a member state is victim of armed aggression, other member states shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance’ Obligation to contribute to EU defence force and enhance military capability “Member states shall make available civil and military capacity available to the Union for the implementation of the Common Security and Defence Policy” “Member States shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities” Obligation to enhance capability of military industrial complex: Member states “shall contribute to identifying and, where appropriate, implementing any measure needed to strengthen the industrial and technical base of the defence sector” Enabling clause for the creation of an elite group of member states: “Those member states whose military capabilities fulfil higher criteria and which have more binding commitments to one another .. Shall establish permanent structured cooperation within the Union framework’ Interconnection with NATO “Shall respect the obligations of certain member states which see their Common Defence realised in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation under the North Atlantic Treaty and be compatible with the common defence and security policy established within that framework”

NATO and the EU

 

Comments contributed by Gawain Little of the CND Executive

 

As one military analyst put it in 1997in terms of the EU relation to NATO, “military co-operation should now be the goal, so that the inter-operability and capacity necessary to mount an effective joint military operation can be created.  The object of an operation may vary from defence of the treaty area, to out-of-area operations designed to protect the vital interests of member states, to providing humanitarian aid.  This means that NATO has only one single mission – conflict prevention and conflict control.  To carry out this mission NATO must have capabilities which allow freedom of action concerning crisis management.”

 

Basically, ‘inter-operability’ means that impoverished Eastern European states are forced to replace and develop their military hardware and contribute to joint operations while their citizens struggle to survive.  This ties in directly with the expansion of the European Union which has accompanied NATO expansion.  The European Constitution, now renamed the Lisbon Treaty, will require member states to “make civilian and military capabilities available to the Union for the implementation of the common security and defence policy” and to “undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities”.  This is part of the development of a European Defence and Security identity framed entirely within the context of NATO military co-operation.  In the words of Javier Solana, the EU/US western alliance is a “formidable force for good in the world” and must be able “to sustain several operations at the same time”, developing “a culture that fosters early, rapid and robust intervention”.  Or, as Robert Cooper more plainly states, “When dealing with old-fashioned states outside the postmodern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era – force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the 19th century world of every state for itself.”

 

This is a vision of the future that no progressive could support.  We must campaign, in the broadest possible alliances for Britain to develop an Independent Foreign Policy, free from the twin evils of US and EU imperialism.  Vital to this will be defeating Trident replacement and decommissioning Britain nuclear weapons, withdrawal from NATO and the EU, and an end to the ‘special relationship’ with the US, including withdrawing from the Mutual Defence Agreement.