Would the EU defend the UK in the way the UK has been defending the EU for years?

If there’s one thing the EU is good at, it’s never saying ‘thank you’ to the UK

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

With Europe’s first 21st century war still raging, the UK continues to defend the EU

With British boots on EU ground, British fighters in EU skies, and British ships in EU waters, the UK has been steadfast in its defence of the EU’s territory – ‘despite Brexit’.

As we begin to look ahead to the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 06 June 2024, Facts4EU.Org starts reviewing the defence the UK has provided to the EU over the decades – without a single word of thanks from Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission, nor from any of the Commissions which preceded hers.

In this three-part report we firstly consider the military support the UK continues to provide to the EU27. In Part II we then provide some facts and figures regarding Europe’s first 21st century war. In Part III we commemorate the part the UK played in the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation, specifically in regard to the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 06 June 1944.

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Series

Part I – The UK's defence of the EU (This report)
Part II - The UK's support for Ukraine, years before the EU acted
Part III – The 80th anniversary of D-Day

The limitations of this review

Whilst we may know details of the latest deployment of UK forces in the defence of Europe, we will not be providing these for obvious reasons. Instead we will provide a summary of information which Russian and other forces will already be aware of, and which has been provided publicly by the British government, the Ministry of Defence, or the Foreign Office.

Spending on defence in Western Europe

As we have reported on many occasions over the years, the United Kingdom has been the mainstay for defence within Western Europe for decades. The UK has spent far more than any EU nation, including Germany which has an economy much larger than that of the United Kingdom.

In the example below we have singled out expenditure on military equipment, as this is NATO's second minimum spending target.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Percentage of total defence spend on equipment – 2014-2022 average

United Kingdom : 23.5%
Germany : 14.8%

[Source: NATO defence expenditure data released 21 Mar 2023.]

In those nine years the UK has devoted proportionately almost 60% more than Germany to its defence equipment budget.

What about Germany, where Ursula von der Leyen was Defence Secretary for so many years?

Sadly, Germany’s record on defence has been somewhat disappointing, to put it mildly. Above we have shown Germany’s underspend on defence equipment compared to the NATO minimum.

From Germany sending soldiers to NATO exercises with broomsticks due to a shortage of rifles, to most of its jet fighters being unserviceable, to tanks unable to be driven, it is not surprising that Ms von der Leyen was lambasted in the German press for being the worst-performing minister in Angela Merkel’s government, before she was parachuted into her current role in Brussels.

On the threat from Putin’s Russia

By eliminating his enemies such as Alexei Navalny and others, Putin’s is now a fully-fledged rogue regime. With democratic opposition effectively obliterated, his ‘win’ in the latest Russian election with 88% of the vote was obtained by killing or banning all serious opponents.

As Russia increasingly aligns itself with other dictatorships such as those of Xi Jinping’s China, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, and Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s Iran, an axis has been forming.

Meanwhile the EU continues to fund Putin’s regime by buying from Russia, despite all the sanctions it says it has imposed.

In March the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle managed to produce a long piece on German reunification without once mentioning the significant contributions by US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in causing the fall of the Soviet Union.

When history is re-written like this, new generations fail to learn any lessons from the past.

Defending the EU’s northern flank

In March we saw an impressive show of force by the Royal Navy in the Baltic Sea by the UK Carrier Strike Group in the Baltic. This was led by the massive British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. British ships were joined by a NATO Amphibious Task Group and a range of aircraft off the coast of Norway as part of 'Exercise Nordic Response'.

HMS Prince of Wales led this NATO battle group. The media is full of stories about the problems recruiting military personnel but the UK can still pack a punch in Europe. Yes, we have advocated in the last eight years for a doubling of the defence budget (and continue to do so), but we thought readers might wish to see some positive news.

8 acres of British real estate off the coast of Norway

In a show of might for NATO and its partners, the exercise allowed the vessels and their aircraft to demonstrate their ability to defend the EU's northern flank while simultaneously defending themselves from potential enemies.

Taking part were: Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales, frigate HMS Portland, Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Tidespring and amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay.

The British Army and the Royal Air Force

The UK has had 'boots on the ground' in Poland and other EU countries, as well as 'eyes in the skies' from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south.

In addition to this in the Mediterranean there is a permanent RAF base on Gibraltar, as well as a permanent base on Cyprus - another EU country. This gives the UK significant strategic strength in the region. As with all other deployments, this effort has gone unrecognised by the EU Commission and in the case of Gibraltar the Spanish government is once again demanding sovereignty over the Rock. Currently it is insisting on putting armed border guards on British soil at Gibraltar Airport.

On the threat from Iran

Iran’s funding of terrorist groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestinian territories and elsewhere directly threatens the security and the supply chains of the EU. Iran also presents a direct threat with its determination to develop nuclear weapons.

The UK has acted, the EU has not. Below is a series we published on this.

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024 - Click to read more

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

In 2019 we revealed that some EU Commissioners had a ‘special interest’ in Iran

The EU's unelected de facto Foreign Secretary in 2019, Federica Mogherini, was a committed communist for eight years until the Italian Communist Party disbanded and was renamed, whereupon Ms Mogherini joined the new organisation.

Ms Mogherini is no fan of the United Kingdom and indicated as early as 2017 that she was looking forward to ‘getting her hands on the file’ as soon as the UK left.

She studied political science in Italy and France and did her university dissertation on Islam.

The other EU Commissioner who was of particular interest was Elżbieta Bieńkowska.

Ms Bieńkowska is Polish and has no business experience, but she was bizarrely the Commissioner for the Single Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

However, Ms Bieńkowska does have a masters degree in Iranian studies from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

So, the EU’s former Vice-President (and de facto Foreign Secretary) did her university dissertation on Islam,
and the former Commissioner for the Single Market and Business did her masters in Iranian studies. They were both in post for the discredited JCPOA deal with Iran.

Observations

Every year the EU Commission makes a big song and dance about what it calls 'Europe Day'. This occurs the day after VE Day, which is celebrated in the UK and marks the end of the Second World War. VE Day is not mentioned by the EU Commission.

We fully expect there to be little mention of the special day this year on 06 June.

Today is 01 June. On 06 June the UK and other countries will be commemorating the massive sacrifice made by so many allied troops, sailors and airmen. Known as 'D-Day' this year marks the 80th anniversary of the landings.

In our report above we have attempted to summarise just some of the ways in which the United Kingdom has actively protected the EU. The UK has been steadfast in spending the two NATO minimums of 2% of GDP on defence overall, of which 20% should be on equipment.

Coming up

In Part II of this special series we will look at the war currently raging in Europe and will provide information on how the UK acted in defence of Ukraine going all the way back to 2014 - 10 years ago - while the EU did nothing. Then on Thursday next week, 06 June, we will publish an article to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily. However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

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[ Sources: MoD | NATO | Other sources too many to list ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 01 Jun 2024

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Reader Comments 9

1. terence patrick hewett , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 06:10:

We have NATO commitments but any government worth its salt would extract a heavy price for any extra military assistance to the EU: but until the demos rids itself of a corrupt and traitorous political class, only abject submission may be expected.

2. Have You Wondered , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 06:42:

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Why would a political body without any apparent conscience say thanks when it acts as illustrated below?
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Search: EU is complicit in dumping migrants in the desert in north africa says investigative report
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"The EU supports, finances and is involved in clandestine operations in North African countries to dump tens of thousands of Black people in the desert or remote areas each year ...."
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"According to Lighthouse, the team established that the EU is well aware of the dump operations and sometimes directly involved. Two senior EU sources said it was “impossible” to fully account for the way in which European funding was used. "
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"The internal documents obtained by Lighthouse show that EU officials had held internal discussions on some of the abusive practices since at least 2019. "
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"“What they’re doing to us is still the system of slavery,” said Moussa, a Cameroonian migrant rounded up on the streets of Sfax, Tunisia, and dumped in the Libyan desert by a Nissan truck identical to those provided by Germany and Italy. “They have no respect for human beings, no respect for the African man.” "
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Read it and contemplate all the implications. Will this end up at the ECHR maybe even the ICC?
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What chance of a thanks for bailing Europe out? The EU only has selfish ambition?
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Why does the UK (or any other nation) need another level of corruption and malfeasance above that which the UK has already?
.

3. Have You Wondered , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 11:00:

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This rubs salt in the wound! From todays European news.
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Search: Prime Minister De Croo pays tribute to victims of war at Arlington cemetery in US
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" "We are a free continent in Europe because the US liberated us twice."
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Well - thanks a bunch chum !
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4. Gazzablack , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 11:59:

3, HYW
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But I thought it was the EU that liberated Europe.
David Lammy assured us it was.
And you should never doubt the word of a man that knows that Henry VIII was succeeded as long by Henry VII, and that Marie Antoinette received the Nobel prize for physics.

5. Gazzablack , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 12:36:

With the election and Trump's litigation taking up media spaces one bit of news has flown under the radar.
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And that is the proposal for Greece and Italy to act as distribution hubs for migrants that have entered the United States, to now be resettled in Europe.
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yes, it's proposed Europe takes US unwanted migrants, to act as a deterrent.

6. LuxuryBalloon , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 16:10:

Our military forces were stationed in Germany after WWII …until 2020. I would be surprised if Facts4EU would have had a positive view on European troops been stationed in the UK for 75 years … we cherish our sovereignty, but we seem to need to help out countries that cannot handle their own sovereignty. And we need to remind those EUers that we won the war at every opportunity.

7. Sparky , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 16:32:

Have a look at Statista. "Total bilateral aid allocations to Ukraine between January 24, 2022 and February 29, 2024, by donor and type". Up to the end of February 24.
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[LINK DELETED]
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The UK and Europe are far too reliant on the USA. If the USA pulled support for Ukraine the Russians would win. We have also followed and trusted the USA too much, and we have been left in their wake over Iraq and Afghanistan.

8. Gazzablack , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 18:19:

7, sparkless
Where the UK leads, the EU follows.
And not only the EU, the US too it seems.
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The UK was the first to train Ukrainian soldiers, after the annexation of Crimea ((That's pre Brexit by the way sparky)
The UK supplied N-LAW anti-tank weapons (plus Javelin) and the US joined in supplying Javelins.
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Though Poland supplied tanks before the UK did, it wasn't until the UK supplied Challenger tanks that Germany (Leopards) and US (Abrams) did too.
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More latterly Britain was the first country to permit Ukraine to use weapons that they had supplied to hit targets inside Russia.
Others are now following suit, with even the US more latterly allowing limited use.
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BTW - most of the Himars and Patriots supplied by the US were drawn from discontinued stock that had been scheduled for disposal.
It didn't cost the US as much as people would imagine, simply because these systems were being replaced anyway.

9. Gazzablack , Saturday, June 01, 2024, 18:41:

6, LB
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That's just one of the downsides of starting and subsequently losing a war.
But the US and UK forces stationed in Gemany weren't stationed there as an occupying force, but as a defensive force.
Germany was "on the frontline' of any potential war with the Soviets.
Stationing such a large force in Germany was a costly affair, and the UK was delighted to be able to withdraw from there.
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In 1966 De Gaulle ordered ALL foreign troops to leave French soil, and so they did.

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