Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-26-Speech-3-242"
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"en.20070926.18.3-242"2
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"Madam President, well, we do seem to have a lot of armchair generals in the House this afternoon! The desperate humanitarian and security situation in Darfur and neighbouring regions of Chad and the Central African Republic certainly cry out for international action, but I have to say that is a separate matter from the issue before us today, which is really about ESDP, as we have heard from so many speakers.
I have long argued against the waste of resources, the duplication, the divisions, indeed the sheer duplicity involved in the EU’s attempts to develop a military capability. There are no EU troops, Mr Ryan. Our nations have troops and there are already well-tried structures for organising international military intervention by that small number of states that have capable armed forces and an expeditionary capability. This is primarily through NATO and the UN. The EU institutions have little to contribute to military matters.
It is clear that the motives of the ESDP enthusiasts are essentially political. Indeed, one has said that Chad should be seen as a political opportunity. The EU offered itself to the UN; it was not the UN that invited the EU. The EU is desperately keen to pin its institutional label on another military operation but, not surprisingly, national military staffs do not share the enthusiasm of the Eurocrats. With extended lines of communication, over a thousand miles to the nearest seaport, lack of water resources and infrastructure, and a reluctance to take on rebel groups with offensive military operations, the Chad mission is precarious from every point of view. Britain, Germany and Italy have already said that they will not be sending any troops.
What is this force going to do? Certainly not take on the armed hostile elements that have created the mayhem in this vast area of Africa. Undoubtedly, therefore, most of its effort will go into protecting and sustaining itself in a very difficult logistical situation. We really must stop playing around and using human tragedy as a political opportunity."@en1
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