Observations

If there were any doubts why so many in British military and defence industry circles were interested in remaining involved in PESCO from ‘outside’ the EU, this league table should confirm their motives.

There seems little doubt that this was all about trying to lead a European defence project, but as so often is the case with EU initiatives the trade-off would have been the ‘one size fits all’ approach and the abandonment of national interests in favour of the European average.

The league table essentially tells us who is leading and who is being led. Britain’s interests do not always coincide with those of France – or Spain, Germany or Italy – who appear to call the shots. To have had influence would have required the UK to have been involved at least as much as France, for without that level of participation it would have been difficult to have had genuine influence.

As with fishing, so with defence

We have been here before. Even though the UK had the majority of fishing resources, other EU nations were keen to conspire and bargain with each other to dismantle the UK’s fishing industry and pillage our resources.

The same would have been possible with our defence industry. At the very least, being outside the EU allows the UK Government to create limits to international partnerships – such as those with the US or Australia - which protect strategic capabilities and interests and which EU laws would have prevented.

As an island nation with a global rather than a continental outlook, our defence industry expertise and military capabilities would have been sacrificed on the altar of European statehood and potential European conflicts.

This was where Theresa May wanted to take us – and we should remember the current Prime Minister chose not to.

Facts4EU.Org would like to thank Brexit-Watch and other monitors of EU military ambitions who contributed to our research. There is more reading here.

The Facts4EU team.

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