Question sent by
Hospitals NOT Helicopters I say.
Please explain you way out of that one!
Reply from
Proinsias De Rossa
,Many thanks for your question. Irish tax payers money will be spent on military equipment and hardware on the basis of the policies and decisions of the Irish Government alone and no one else. The suggestion that the European Defence Agency can dictate the amount of defence expenditure has as much validity as the assertion that the Lisbon Treaty provides for conscription.
The EDA was established in 2004 and its mission is to support the Council and the Member States in their efforts to improve the EU’s defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the European Security and Defence Policy. It operates under the authority of the Council of Ministers. Participation in the Agency does not impose any specific obligations or commitments on Ireland other than a contribution to its budget – this year about €350,000 to a total budget of €32 million. Involvement in individual projects of the Agency is a matter for national decision on a case-by-case basis.
The provision in the Lisbon Treaty that Member States should aim to improve their military capability is simply a statement of the need to ensure that the EU, working within the terms of the UN Charter, can meet the demands of crisis management and peacekeeping in today’s world. There is no prescription of how each Member State will live up to this general provision.
The work of the EDA can contribute to the required improvement by achieving efficiency and effectiveness in the equipment field. As General Pat Nash, who commanded the EU peacekeeping mission in Chad has commented, "if Ireland goes outside the EDA and opts out of the situation, certainly the Defence Forces are going to have to pay more for what they need…”
Under the Lisbon Treaty, the EDA would also become accountable to directly-elected MEPs for the first time. I see this as a very positive development.
Best wishes,
Proinsias