EU DEFENCE UNION COMES ANOTHER STEP CLOSER,
AS EU PARLIAMENT VOTES

MEPs in Strasbourg approve EU Commission’s latest €13 billion military manoeuvre

© EU Parliament

ABOVE : The EU Parliament building, Strasbourg, used just four days per month.

You won't see this on the BBC

Yesterday the EU Parliament moved another step closer to the goal of a common EU defency policy and EU Defence Union:

“aiming for a more European approach to defence”

328 MEPs voted in favour, with 231 against and 19 abstaining. They approved the next part of the EU Defence Fund (EDF), totalling €13 billion (£11.2 billion pounds). This means that the EDF can now go to the EU Council for final discussion and approval.

Where has all this come from?

Since mid-2016 (the time of the EU Referendum) the EU Commission has been ramping up its plans for an EU Defence Union. Sadly, Mrs May and other Government ministers have quietly acquiesced in all of this.

Last year (June 2018) the Commission announced the official creation of the ‘European Defence Fund’, with unelected Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska saying :

“The €13 billion Fund shows that this Commission is serious about building a Europe that defends and protects its citizens.”

It is important to note that all the impetus for this has come from the unelected EU Commission, NOT from elected politicians.

 

EU Commissioner Bienkowska
© EU Commission

On 19 March 2019 the Commission announced:

“The Juncker Commission is making an unprecedented effort to protect and defend Europeans. From 2021, a fully-fledged European Defence Fund will foster an innovative and competitive defence industrial base and contribute to the EU's strategic autonomy. Through two precursors to the Fund, the Commission is taking steps to make defence cooperation under the EU budget a reality as of now.”

At the same time they announced an immediate commitment of over €0.5 billion.

Vice-President and EU Commissioner Jyrki Katainen commented :

“Joint projects are materialising. European Defence is happening. On the basis of this successful experience we will scale up funding to have a fully-fledged European Defence Fund in place in 2021.”

The €0.5 billion and the €13 billion are only part of the story

On top of all the above, there is an additional €10.5 billion fund which the Commission proposes to keep “off-budget”.

Here is how we reported it at the time.

“It will cover expenditure that cannot be financed under the EU's budget because of its military and defence implications.”
- EU Commission, June 2018

From a Brexit Facts4EU.Org article last year.

The significance of yesterday’s vote by MEPs

Yesterday Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska announced:

“The European Defence Fund marks a big step forward in European defence matters.”

“With today's vote, a fully-fledged European Defence Fund is now on track to become a reality. I want to thank the European Parliament as well as all other EU institutions on taking fast and decisive action on this key political priority.”

FOR REMAINERS :

Please note that this is just ONE article amongst many dozens we have researched and published about the EU's military preparations. All of these articles are in our Brexit Index and they cover all aspects of the preparations the EU has been making towards its Defence Union, researched from official EU and NATO sources.

It is no longer possible or credible to claim that the EU is not in the process of creating its own fully-inclusive military forces and capabilities.

Doubt our word? Maybe it's time we produced another summary for you.

Please see our subsequent article!

Observations

You won’t see any of the above from the BBC, Sky News, or ITN, so we thought you might like to be informed.

Over the last three years we have published more about EU defence matters than any other Brexit organisation. We will continue to try to keep you up-to-date, although it has to be said that we have nothing like the resources of the large news media.

You can of course help us with this, by making a donation to the cause. We don’t have plush London offices, nor secretaries, nor expense accounts. And we will continue to work and publish throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, as we always do.

Donating is easy and secure. Please see below for the ways you can do this.

Happy Easter to all our readers!

[ Sources : EU Parliament | EU Commission ]

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Good Friday, 19 Apr 2019

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