EU Referendum


Booker: a "weird" call for a European army


15/03/2015



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The online structure of the Booker column is a bit odd this week, with the main story on rape, the BBC and India, on one link, and the other two – completely dissimilar – sharing the second link. Taking a quick look at one of those, we see Booker commenting on the "weird" call from Jean-Claude Juncker, Commission president, for a "European Army".

It is even weirder that its current purpose is to "convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union". Says Booker, President Putin will doubtless be quaking in his boots, just when most EU countries, including Britain, are doing all they can to reduce even further the money they spend on their already pitifully shrunken defence forces.

In fact, it is 10 years since Juncker's predecessor Romano Prodi made a similar call, famously adding, "If you don't want to call it a European Army, you can call it Margaret, you can call it Mary-Ann".

But at least that was in the time when the EU's members were apparently gung-ho for creating a "European Rapid Reaction Force", with each nation making its own contribution to the whole – Britain's being the two giant aircraft carriers we are building without any aircraft to fly on them.

But such integrationist dreams have long since faded, with the French now reequipping their own army to fight in the desert sands of west Africa, to defend their former colonies against the advancing Islamist hordes.

Curiously it is also 60 years since Jean Monnet, the father of European integration, first came up with a proposal for a European army, which was roundly rejected by the French Assembly (and ridiculed by Winston Churchill).

With our own Government having apparently lost any interest in defence, Booker then suggests, it might be more sensible for Mr Juncker to focus on sorting out all the disasters the EU has already made for itself – including its ludicrously ill-judged policy towards Russia – without creating another one for the future.