European Integration

Fire of Liberty

In The Financial Times this article appeared that notes Secretary Rice has heaped praise on Europe's plan to forge the various military forces throughout the EU into a force with a common foreign policy.

While the thought of the Europeans working together is fine, I foresee some problems. First of all, If the EU becomes this superstate what does it mean for the various member states. Say for instance the United States takes on another foe like Iraq. If the British, who are generally by our side in a fight, are under this newly integrated group in the EU and their fellow member states refuse to offer help then the British will be prevented from acting. We all know what the French and Germans did before, who's to say they wouldn't do the same if we took on Syria, Iran or even North Korea.

Secondly, by being in this combined force, what does it do to NATO. Instead of the US and the NATO allies you would have NATO and then the EU force. Who would you go to for help, the EU or NATO? I understand if you did away with one but I don't see NATO going the way of the Dodo bird. Perhaps the EU can intergrate well with NATO but I doubt it. They seem to be spreading thin with their commitments.

Thirdly, how is the EU going to afford this force. Right now, excluding Great Britain and a few other nations, the EU states devote a paltry amount of their GDP towards the military. While the US and Brits have a heavy lift capacity and a fleet of Aircraft carriers while the French had to repair its Crown Jewel the Charles De'Gaulle shortly after its sea trials. If the EU can't spend enough to keep its forces barely afloat in NATO, how is it going to be able to afford its NATO and EU budgets together. Unless they step up their funding, the EU will never be able to defend itself and will need our help to fight any operation.

Yes, it's wise to promote this military formulation but the EU's got to get its house in order. There's no problem in Eastern Europe and Great Britain about these points but it's definately a problem in the capitol's of Spain, Germany, France and the other members of "old Europe". I'm not as diplomatic as Secretary Rice because I'm very Euro skeptic. They'll never be a United States of Europe or a military power near the strength of the US. I might be wrong but I'd bet you my Dollars over their Euro's that their experiment is destined for a nasty future. Pay attention to the various EU constitution votes in the next months in France, Spain and Great Britain. I expect some nation to vote no. Don't just take my word, click here. I'm very weary of such a superstate, I prefer individual nations with individual foreign policies who have their own sovereignty.