Before the 2016 EU referendum, leading Remainers insisted that we Brexiteers were ‘dangerous fantasists’ when we warned about the rise of a European Union army. But as the EU accelerates its drive towards a militarised supra-state, we are surely entitled to ask: who are the dangerous fantasists now?
When European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for a Europe-wide security force in 2015, Leave campaigners led by then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP seized upon it as proof that they had been right all along. Top Brussels bureaucrats openly wanted an EU military machine that could command the forces of member states.
Arch-Remainer Nick Clegg was then leader of the illiberal, anti-democratic Liberal Democrat Party and deputy UK prime minister in the coalition government. He was quick to dismiss any notion of an EU army as a “dangerous fantasy.”
Clegg declared that “Jean-Claude Juncker and Nigel Farage are both dangerous fantasists when it comes to this issue. It’s not going to happen.” Throughout the referendum campaign, Remainers would accuse Leave supporters of scaremongering by spreading ‘fake news’ about a fantasy EU army.
Since we won the Brexit vote, Nick Clegg has gone off to try to conquer the worldwide web as Facebook’s global censor-in-chief. Meanwhile the forward charge towards a militarised EU has accelerated. The ‘dangerous fantasy’ of pan-European security forces is effectively becoming a dangerous reality.
Don’t take my word for it. Look at what EU bosses themselves are saying and doing.
Just this week, Brussels unveiled its plan to pump €500 million into European factories producing ammunition shells. Some of that rearmament money will be taken out of EU Cohesion funds and Recovery and Resilience funds. In case anybody didn’t get the militarisation-first message, European Commission industry chief Thierry Breton urged European manufacturers to get into “war economy mode.”
This is the third of EU leaders’ current three tracks for increased military spending. Track two commits the EU to spend €1 billion on procuring arms and missiles over the next year. In March Josep Borrell, the Commission’s foreign relations chief, rejoiced that the EU’s historic shift towards investing in arms “will put the European Defence Agency into orbit!”
Back on Planet Earth of course, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine provides EU leaders with a plausible pretext for their new ‘war economy’ policies. But let’s be clear, they have been working to turn their dream of a centralised EU security policy into reality for many years: from Juncker’s call for an EU army in 2015, through Chancellor Merkel and President Macron’s explicit endorsement of that idea in 2018, to the EU’s 2022 ‘Military Mobility 2.0’ action plan for the rapid movement of large-scale forces. If it wasn’t for the all-too-real war in Ukraine, they would no doubt have found some other excuse.
The UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 because we wanted to take back control of our laws, borders, money, and security. (The way that the British armed forces have since been run down is just one of the ways in which Tory governments have wasted the opportunities offered by Brexit, but that’s another story.)
EU member states are now faced with the real prospect of security forces armed and commanded from Brussels. They may have to ask the question that we Brexiteers posed to British voters: in a democracy, who do you want to decide if you go to war? Your elected national government, or a centralised, militarised EU super-state?
In the meantime, let’s remember never to believe all that we’re told by EU cheerleaders. For years, Remainers have insisted that Brexiteers misled the British public. Now we can see that the truly ‘dangerous fantasists’ were those who tried to deny the reality of EU militarisation. We told them so then, and will do so again.
EU Militarisation: ‘Dangerous Fantasy’ Becomes Reality
Before the 2016 EU referendum, leading Remainers insisted that we Brexiteers were ‘dangerous fantasists’ when we warned about the rise of a European Union army. But as the EU accelerates its drive towards a militarised supra-state, we are surely entitled to ask: who are the dangerous fantasists now?
When European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for a Europe-wide security force in 2015, Leave campaigners led by then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP seized upon it as proof that they had been right all along. Top Brussels bureaucrats openly wanted an EU military machine that could command the forces of member states.
Arch-Remainer Nick Clegg was then leader of the illiberal, anti-democratic Liberal Democrat Party and deputy UK prime minister in the coalition government. He was quick to dismiss any notion of an EU army as a “dangerous fantasy.”
Clegg declared that “Jean-Claude Juncker and Nigel Farage are both dangerous fantasists when it comes to this issue. It’s not going to happen.” Throughout the referendum campaign, Remainers would accuse Leave supporters of scaremongering by spreading ‘fake news’ about a fantasy EU army.
Since we won the Brexit vote, Nick Clegg has gone off to try to conquer the worldwide web as Facebook’s global censor-in-chief. Meanwhile the forward charge towards a militarised EU has accelerated. The ‘dangerous fantasy’ of pan-European security forces is effectively becoming a dangerous reality.
Don’t take my word for it. Look at what EU bosses themselves are saying and doing.
Just this week, Brussels unveiled its plan to pump €500 million into European factories producing ammunition shells. Some of that rearmament money will be taken out of EU Cohesion funds and Recovery and Resilience funds. In case anybody didn’t get the militarisation-first message, European Commission industry chief Thierry Breton urged European manufacturers to get into “war economy mode.”
This is the third of EU leaders’ current three tracks for increased military spending. Track two commits the EU to spend €1 billion on procuring arms and missiles over the next year. In March Josep Borrell, the Commission’s foreign relations chief, rejoiced that the EU’s historic shift towards investing in arms “will put the European Defence Agency into orbit!”
Back on Planet Earth of course, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine provides EU leaders with a plausible pretext for their new ‘war economy’ policies. But let’s be clear, they have been working to turn their dream of a centralised EU security policy into reality for many years: from Juncker’s call for an EU army in 2015, through Chancellor Merkel and President Macron’s explicit endorsement of that idea in 2018, to the EU’s 2022 ‘Military Mobility 2.0’ action plan for the rapid movement of large-scale forces. If it wasn’t for the all-too-real war in Ukraine, they would no doubt have found some other excuse.
The UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 because we wanted to take back control of our laws, borders, money, and security. (The way that the British armed forces have since been run down is just one of the ways in which Tory governments have wasted the opportunities offered by Brexit, but that’s another story.)
EU member states are now faced with the real prospect of security forces armed and commanded from Brussels. They may have to ask the question that we Brexiteers posed to British voters: in a democracy, who do you want to decide if you go to war? Your elected national government, or a centralised, militarised EU super-state?
In the meantime, let’s remember never to believe all that we’re told by EU cheerleaders. For years, Remainers have insisted that Brexiteers misled the British public. Now we can see that the truly ‘dangerous fantasists’ were those who tried to deny the reality of EU militarisation. We told them so then, and will do so again.
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