– Twenty-First Century Crusades?

Prediction 13: Continued build-up of the EuroArmy

An EU military HQ would undermine Nato
Geoffrey Van Orden - Telegraph - UK

As the euro crisis unfolds, those pushing for EU fiscal and economic government have now seen another opportunity to take forward the process of European integration using the Lisbon Treaty's "permanent structured co-operation" to fast-track EU defence policy.

You cannot get closer to the bone of national sovereignty than our armed forces.

We have always said that any attempt to develop an autonomous EU defence policy would only be at the cost of the Nato alliance and the sovereign integrity of our nation.

Since the St Malo agreement of 1998 I have led the opposition to EU meddling in defence. This is a duplicative, divisive and dangerous distraction at a time when military resources are overstretched and we need to focus on meeting real security threats. EU defence policy is primarily an instrument of European political integration and brings no additional military capabilities to the table.

The current Libya crisis has exposed the hollowness of the EU's defence ambitions. At the beginning of the crisis, the EU desperately sought a military role merely in order to add another chapter to its bogus military narrative.

Neither the UN nor Nato were interested.

The idea of a new and expensive EU military HQ has been resisted by successive British governments. It would merely duplicate capabilities that already exist at Nato and in the UK and elsewhere. It can only have the effect of undermining Nato and it is ridiculous that co-ordination mechanisms between the EU and Nato are now required to enable more or less the same nations to talk to themselves in different locations.

Burden-sharing between the US and its key allies remains the key issue.

This requires both military capability and political will. Nato needs wholehearted commitment which has unfortunately been sadly lacking among certain European allies when the Alliance has been engaged on vital military operations.

Geoffrey Van Orden is a Conservative MEP for the East of England