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2022-04-07

I have always advocated that the UK should leave the EU, and a major factor in that stance concerned our ability to defend ourselves without needing to rely on others whose strategic imperatives might not coincide with ours.

Add in the lack of transparency in matters of EU governance and the inherently bureaucratic nature of the decision-making, and I was clear in my own mind that the smallest competent group of British officers (including military, political, and expert) should be in the driving seat of our defence.

In passing I note that both UK and EU pronouncements on the Ukraine situation seem to be very long on stoking the inflammatory rhetoric and very short on trying to calm the situation with a view to promoting a negotiated settlement, so one does wonder whether our establishment really has withdrawn from EU defence thinking. In this critical area I do not subscribe to the view that our stance is in line with the thinking of the population.

Are we about to be dragged into supporting a war that the vast majority does not want?

So it is with interest that I note the latest newsletter from Investigate Europe, who take a critical view of the EU's defence arrangements:

"EU-trained troops committed abuses in Mali"

"The European Peace Facility, an unsecured gun on EU’s table"

"Arms exports: A business without an EU policy"

"Dockers against arms: Fighting weapons trade in Europe’s ports"

"Inside Nato, an EU army of the willing is forming"

"Arming the EU — The long road towards a united defence"

There is a lot here of interest to both defence and democratic free thinking, so I am also linking to the whole newsletter.