Not yet, but the US administration’s behaviour over Ukraine is leading the rest of NATO to ask how real US defence guarantees are. The EU Commission has announced a funding route for arms and Germany is looking to exclude defence expenditure from their “debt ceiling rules”. My notes and links …
On the lead up to this, I comment on my blog, although I focus more on their demands on freedom to disinform or lie as we used to call it. I also wrote a piece of Labour Hub, entitled, Vassal state to the US or European partner? which focuses on the UK and its relationship with the EU and the need to re-engage.
On European re-armament
- See Press statement by President von der Leyen on the defence package from the commission.
- Von der Leyen pitches ‘€800bn’ defence package ahead of EU leaders’ summit from euronews.com
- And EU pushes emergency plan to send €150B in defense loans to governments from politico.eu
Comrades make the point that we should be connecting social justice with an investment in arms and invest in the less well off, building resilience to manipulation and disinformation.
We should note that while the EU treaties have a shared defence clause – Turkey, UK & Canada are obviously not covered by this.
Increased military & security capabilities need to be subordinate to the charter on fundamental right
Merz’s announcement that the new coalition will seek to modify Germany’s debt break to fund defence is a major step forward. See Germany moves to overhaul debt rules to unleash major defense spending . This is seemingly in line with the Commission, which is prepared to lend/gift member states money to rearm. But economic policy (including the deficit should be an agreement of the living, not of the dead embalmed in treaties and constitutions. It’s a shame they feel they have to restrict the new deficit to defence spending, but this must have an impact on the Stability and Growth pact limits, as do Draghi’s proposed Euro debt reforms.
Do we need treaty change for the debt making, what is the legal base for the commission proposals?
We note that the EU started as a peace project,
What is needed
- How Europe can defend itself without US help from the FT, Europe needs, transport capability, air-to-air refuelling tankers, an air defence system, satellites and munition stockpiles.
- Could Europe defend itself without the US? An hour long video by Perun. TLDR: Almost certainly Yes. There’s some very funny understatements in this.
- Where we are today? By wikipedia.
More on the reliability of the USA
There are a number of reports of the USA withdrawing from some UN agencies and some talk of leaving it all together, also some calls from Musk to withdraw from NATO, which would make the politics of building a new one much easier.