Ashton back-tracking already on EU defence policy

Strasbourg, 10th March 2010

Strasbourg, 10th March 2010 -- In the European Parliament today (10 March) Baroness Ashton 's position on the formulation of the new EU foreign and defence policy came under scrutiny from Conservative Security and Defence Spokesman Geoffrey Van Orden who commented:

"EU Security and Defence Policy deliberately confuses military and civil crisis management in order to justify an EU role. It relies on a bogus narrative concerning EU operations and increasingly seeks to involve the European Commission in areas which are properly the responsibility of our nations or of Council."

"I recall one of the great red lines of the British Labour Government's negotiating stance when it said it would resist the idea of a separate and permanent EU operations centre - responsible for 'operational planning and conduct of military operations' - as this would be the clearest example of duplication of NATO, whose SHAPE HQ performs precisely this role. When asked about this on 11 January, Baroness Ashton agreed. Now she seems to have been got at and changed her mind."


Geoffrey Van Orden MEP is Conservative Security & Defence Spokesman and can be contacted at 0032 2283 7332 or by e-mail at geoffrey.vanorden@europarl.europa.eu

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