Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-09-Speech-3-236"
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"en.20030409.5.3-236"2
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"Mr President, it is always the same. When European pipe dreams are shattered by reality, the ‘Euro-enthusiasts’ and dreamers amongst us come up with more, which are even more absurd. Such a relentless pursuit in spite of all the evidence would be laughable if it were not so serious.
The pipe dream contained in the Morillon report is that of European defence, which is moreover an outdated notion. European defence has been the dream of many simple-minded individuals throughout the twentieth century but nothing has been achieved. Aristide Briand promoted the idea with the drastic result of breaking down resistance and the spirit of defence in France. The fanciful notion was taken up again in 1948, at the Congress of Europe held in The Hague, and then by Winston Churchill in 1950, following the failure of the European Defence Community, which was one of his dreams. We must be grateful that the French Government managed to put a stop to it. Fifty years later, here we are again. We have not made any progress. We have made so little progress that work on one of the key elements of a defence policy, that of creating a European defence industry, has not just stopped, but has gone into reverse. We must be aware that Member States buy around 60% of their arms not from each other, but from the United States. We must first tackle this issue if we are then to consider a defence policy.
Lastly, this defence policy is nothing but a pipe dream because we cannot establish a defence policy without a common foreign policy. This was set in stone by Title V of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. No one has however even started to implement this in any crisis, be it that of Rwanda, Afghanistan or Kosovo. We have got into this situation because we all tagged along behind the United States. This common foreign and security policy has fallen to pieces once again today.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must abandon all pipe dreams. Europe must be built on reality. It is now clearer than ever that individual Member States are that reality. Member States must not let themselves be deprived of the very core of their being: the will to defend themselves and the means to do so. I will go no further than to express my hope that, in the face of her growing global responsibilities, France will be able to strengthen her own means of defence. This is the only and the best contribution France can make to what remains of Europe."@en1
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