What is more important to European leaders? The security of their continent and the defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty, or fish?
The EU has positioned itself as fiercely committed to defending Ukraine and rebuilding Europe’s military power. Time and again, it makes bold declarations about increasing defence spending, launching an ambitious programme of rearmament and forging a robust pact to replace the terminally ill NATO. In recent months, there have been numerous defence-related conferences and online meetings between the leaders of EU states and the UK, determined to forge a ‘coalition of the willing’. Yet now, the prospect of a European military alliance could depend on whether the UK allows the EU more favourable fishing rights in its waters.
All these ambitious declarations are nothing more than hot air, as exposed by the sordid wheeling and dealing over a UK-EU defence pact. You might think that securing a military coalition of European governments would be something of a priority right now. The US clearly has no intention of providing Europe with military guarantees. However, the EU seems determined to tie the new post-Brexit security deal, which is due to be signed in May, to giving itself more fishing rights in British waters. This idea has so far been rejected by the UK government.
It’s not just fishing rights the EU is after, either. Jessica Rosencrantz, Sweden’s EU affairs minister, made it very clear that, before her colleagues in Brussels would sign off on a formal security agreement, there were other ‘sensitive’ issues that had to be considered. These include a proposed youth mobility scheme and border policies for Gibraltar. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this is yet another Brexit-induced hissy fit. The EU elites have obviously still not recovered from the trauma caused by the 2016 referendum. They cannot help but use every opportunity to teach Britain a lesson.
That petty squabbles over fishing rights are allowed to get in the way of forging a European defence pact calls into question just how seriously EU leaders take their nations’ security. Behind the scenes, they are already arguing about how to divvy up the EU’s proposed €150 billion loan programme for governments to spend on re-arming. So far, their only point of agreement is to ensure that the British defence industry is locked out of this European fund. Eurocrats are also already drawing up a wishlist of concessions they want to extract from Britain in preparation for the review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement due next year, when the EU and UK will reassess their post-Brexit relationship. Despite all the talk about responding to the threat posed by Russia, it is business as usual in Brussels.
This behaviour from the EU is not surprising. These are, by instinct, bureaucrats whose lives are devoted to devising petty rules and regulations. They possess little understanding of geopolitics and few truly grasp the issue of security. What’s more, they seem remarkably uninterested in the internal crises of the EU, such as unregulated mass migration. The EU has more or less given up on controlling its own borders.
As things stand, the European nations – including the big powers of Britain, France and Germany – lack the defence resources, personnel and, most importantly, the will to constitute a serious military bloc. When it comes to making important decisions, the EU fails to act as a union and rarely speaks with one voice. Instead of dreaming about setting up a pan-European army, leaders would do better to pay attention to their own national security. Until they do, a serious military alliance is off the table.
Right now, the EU lacks the leadership this current moment of international crisis requires. That is why its leaders are prepared to sabotage a crucial defence pact and blackmail Britain over fishing rights. Eurocrats are clearly still blinded by rage over Brexit, even as the world unravels around them.
Frank Furedi is the executive director of the think-tank, MCC-Brussels.
