Upcoming Events

National | EU

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Buys Huge Amounts of Russian Fue... Fri Jan 20, 2023 08:34 | Antonia Kotseva

offsite link Turkey Has Sent Ukraine Cluster Munition... Thu Jan 12, 2023 00:26 | Jack Detsch

offsite link New Israeli Government Promises to Talk ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 21:13 | Al Majadeen

offsite link Russia Training Iranian Pilots Ahead of ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:19 | The Times of Israel

offsite link Lukashenko Abolishes Copyright Protectio... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:05 | Nikki Main

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Women?s Team with Five Male Players Wins Competition After One Male Player ?Broke Opponent?s Leg? ? ... Thu Mar 28, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
A women?s football competition has been branded misogynist after it was won by a team featuring five transgender players, amid accusations one had broken an opponent?s leg in two places.
The post Women’s Team with Five Male Players Wins Competition After One Male Player “Broke Opponent’s Leg” ? But Teams Who Refuse to Play Against Them Are Branded “Discriminatory” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake Thu Mar 28, 2024 17:36 | Will Jones
The evidence that the Gaza casualty numbers from the Hamas-run Health Ministry (now over 32,000) are wildly inflated continues to mount. Mark Zlochin looks at what the proportions of male and female UNRWA workers tell us.
The post Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Don?t Be Fooled by the ?Britain is Growing? Fairytales Thu Mar 28, 2024 15:22 | David Craig
Don't be fooled by the 'Britain is growing' fairytales, says David Craig. Any 'growth' is accounted for by the hike in the benefits bill and in civil servants' pay and a heap of other unproductive deficit spending.
The post Don’t Be Fooled by the ‘Britain is Growing’ Fairytales appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety Thu Mar 28, 2024 13:00 | Toby Young
Climate Change: The Movie, the new film by Martin Durkin, should be shown at every school in the country to disabuse anxious young people of the idea that we're in the midst of a 'climate emergency'.
The post Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The WHO?s Plot to Seize Power Over Nation States in Future Pandemics Must Be Stopped Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:12 | Will Jones
The World Health Organisation is gearing up to persuade the world's governments to sign a new pandemic treaty that would allow the unelected body to seize power over nation states in future pandemics, warns Matt Ridley.
The post The WHO’s Plot to Seize Power Over Nation States in Future Pandemics Must Be Stopped appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Lisbon II - How it pushes the Militarisation & the Armaments Industry

category national | eu | feature author Tuesday September 22, 2009 15:51author by Joe Higgins MEP - Socialist Partyauthor email info at joehiggins dot eu Report this post to the editors

It's not too late to get active in the campaign - volunteer at the link below.

featured image
Joe Higgins, Socialist MEP.

Many issues have come up so far in the Lisbon debate, some very relevant, some less so. The key issues the Socialist Party have been raising so far are workers rights, public services and miltarisation. Elsewhere Joe Higgins has looked at the issue of workers' rights (http://www.joehiggins.eu/510) and public services (http://www.joehiggins.eu/489). Here, he goes into precisely how Lisbon boosts the armaments industry and is another step towards a militarised EU.

The absence of any detailed debate on the new provisions in the Lisbon Treaty concerning armaments policy and military strategy is quite alarming. This arises on the one hand from the reluctance of the 'Yes' side to highlight a face of the European Union which many Irish people would find revolting and on the other a blatant failure by the media to analyse these provisions.

It should be a matter of massive debate that, for the first time, the EU armaments industry is given a formal place in an EU Treaty. The role of the European Defence Agency is essentially to co-ordinate the armaments industry in the EU, making it an integral part of EU operations. Its tasks include: ‘implementing any measures needed to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defence sector’ and to participate ‘in defining a European capabilities and armaments policy’ (Art. 42 TEU).

The EU armaments industry is the guilty secret that the EU political establishment likes to keep hidden. The major EU arms-exporting countries - France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Britain - account for one third of the world's arms deals. Their products include military helicopters, submarines which carry nuclear missiles and aircraft bombers. The largest armaments company in the United Kingdom, BAE, is currently in contention with other major contractors to get a contract with India for 130 Eurofighter combat aircraft. BAE already has a contract with Saudi Arabia for 72 Eurofighters.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most vicious and repressive regimes on the face of the planet. In Pakistan and India, tens of millions live in abject squalor. Supplying weaponry on a grand scale to these countries flies blatantly in the face of the ideals which the EU says is stands for: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights”. (Art. 2, Treaty on European Union.)

The remit of the EDA regarding assisting European arms manufacturers to sell their wares is to ‘ensure that European companies benefit from these economic opportunities’ (A Strategy for a Stronger and more Competitive European Defence Industry, EU Commission Communication December 2007)

What this means is the European Union is putting in its Treaties a provision endorsing itself as a major arms merchant for the world.

How these provisions escape the notice of the Christian churches which have been endorsing the Lisbon Treaty is something they should explain. To have major economic power bloc blatantly providing for more criminal wastage of resources on weapons of massive destruction in the face of massive poverty and destitution on our globe should surely be a cause for strenuous objection

Internal Military Alliances - A Dangerous new Departure

The provision for 'Permanent Structured Cooperation' which provided essentially for internal military alliances inside the EU 'with a view to the most demanding missions’ is a new provision with alarming implications for the future, yet it is scarcely mentioned in the debate except buy those objecting to the military and foreign policy changes in the Lisbon treaty. The kinds of missions involved are referred to in Article 43 (TEU): “…joint disarmament operations, military advice and assistance tasks, tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking and post-conflict stabilisation”.

Although it would require a unanimous vote in the EU Council to launch a mission involving the countries involved in such an alliance, once it is underway the conduct of the mission would be solely in the hands of the member states concerned. However their actions would be in the name of the EU as a whole and each Member State would be obliged to support them.

The changes in the Lisbon Treaty to military strategy and to the Common Foreign Policy are designed to allow the EU to make its weight felt in the international forum as it jockeys in the decades ahead with other world powers for markets, raw materials and political influence. None of this is in the interests of ordinarily people in Europe or throughout the world.

Related Link: http://www.joehiggins.eu/help-out/get-involved/

Vote NO to a Miltarised EU
Vote NO to a Miltarised EU

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   .     Michael Gallagher    Tue Sep 22, 2009 16:11 
   Comment     Woman    Tue Sep 22, 2009 17:08 
   No to additional militarisation of EU     Diarmuid Breatnach    Tue Sep 22, 2009 17:15 
   Don't forget the CFSP     Raymond Deane    Tue Sep 22, 2009 18:16 
   'Woman'....     Michael Gallagher    Tue Sep 22, 2009 18:38 
   Who Owns Ireland Even Now?     Fred Johnston    Tue Sep 22, 2009 19:04 
   the greatest shame     old codger    Wed Sep 23, 2009 16:12 
   The truth about "Lisbon Treaty": See the complete movie on YouTube!     Juergenhaag    Thu Sep 24, 2009 17:16 
   Energy Veto gone under Lisbon !     Margaret    Fri Sep 25, 2009 20:40 
 10   The EU Plan to take our last resource     eillers    Fri Sep 25, 2009 23:51 
 11   Pinochet Shock and Awe & Lisbon     eillers    Fri Sep 25, 2009 23:59 
 12   Realties     Cecil R    Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:20 
 13   Mr.     NO means NO -> respect it    Sat Sep 26, 2009 13:57 
 14   NO to Lisbon! YouTube shows essential reasons why the Irish People should vote "NO"!     Juergenhaag    Sat Sep 26, 2009 15:28 
 15   Undecided but veering to a yes vote     Attendee    Sat Sep 26, 2009 21:27 
 16   u decide     the RECESSION ME .........    Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:10 
 17   SAVE EUROPE, IRELAND!     puchaty    Sun Sep 27, 2009 21:47 
 18   Rejected EU constitution/Lisbon 1/2     Ronoc    Sun Sep 27, 2009 23:01 
 19   Check out this song     Lisbonlassie    Mon Sep 28, 2009 05:22 
 20   some more detailed info of the security contracts and funds raised for "research"     soundmigration    Mon Sep 28, 2009 13:49 
 21   Why all the mad rush?     James    Mon Oct 12, 2009 14:55 
 22   Wait     Mike hogan    Mon Oct 12, 2009 16:47 
 23   Good news (for some) ...     Kay    Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:38 
 24   Time to support President Klaus to the hilt (when and where possible)?     Patrick    Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:10 


Number of comments per page
  
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy