Today in the House of Commons the Prime Minister said that:
“The European Union does not have an official role in foreign and security policy; it is an intergovernmental organisation, in part for dealing with defence and security policy.”
This statement is not only false but it contradicts the text of the treaty this Government is forcing onto the British people.
In the House of Commons we spent less than six hours debating the foreign, security, and defence policy aspects of the Lisbon Treaty. Not a lot of time to debate issues that will have an effect on the future of Britain’s foreign policy and the transatlantic alliance. Although the Lisbon Treaty makes sweeping changes in the area of European Union defence integration Des Browne was nowhere to be seen throughout the debate.
The Lisbon Treaty proposes giving the EU a defence capability which will duplicate many of the functions of NATO. Worse, it will potentially compete with, rather than complement, NATO. It is not well known that the newly-created role of High Representative, aka EU Foreign Minister, will also serve as a vice-president in the EU Commission and as the Head of the European Defence Agency—the EU’s defence procurement body. He will also have a right of initiative for proposing military operations. This will bring supranationalism into EU defence planning for the first time. Consequently, foreign and defence policy in the EU will no longer be strictly intergovernmental.
Gordon Brown might be right that the EU currently does not have a role in foreign and security policy but once he has finished forcing through this treaty without a referendum it certainly will.
