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EU watch

The EU have been talking about, and doing grand gestures about joint, EU level military capability for 30 years, but they don't come off because a) the member states are hugely reluctant to give control of their assigned forces to other states who don't share their foreign and defence policy, b) many states are very wary of setting precedents that encourage an EU power grab in the sphere, and within thee EU structures there are some right moon howlers with some grandiose/deranged ideas, and c) few think that, in a similar way to how the EU structures coped with the vaccine purchase debacle, the EU structures are not going to be particularly good at this kind of stuff.

The French think it would be great because they think they'd run the show for the benefit of French policy, the Germans think it would be great because it stops them being responsible for either policy or spending money, and everyone else thinks it would be awful for the same reasons.

The Irish will be enthusiastic, but won't contribute any forces to it because of the triple lock, and there's a huge question about whether they could sign off on anything that doesn't have a UN resolution, which would potentially stall the whole force.

There are a number of 'sub-EU' schemes, where countries work together on a bi/multi lateral basis, and a small EU program with a bit of funding, but it's all just drop-in-the-ocean stuff when you're looking at a quasi-state with 500m inhabitants...
 
Kevbad the Bad said:
Oh I don't know. It might have given more time to evacuate Afghanis that wanted to leave. It would have taken the Taliban yonks to fill out all the forms before being allowed to take control.
Click to expand...
That still wouldn’t be nearly enough time to charter the evacuation flights via the OJEC tendering process.
 
againstreactionblog.wordpress.com

“Going into Europe” – an essay by E. P. Thompson

The essay “Going into Europe”, written by the Marxist historian E. P. Thompson, was first printed in the Sunday Times on 27 April 1975 – the pre-Murdoch era, for anyone wondering. It was published …
againstreactionblog.wordpress.com againstreactionblog.wordpress.com

Old but interesting I thought, especially this bit:

The first person who enthused to me, some years ago, about ‘going into Europe’ went on to enthuse about green peppers. This gave a clue as to what the great British middle class thinks ‘Europe’ is about.

It is about the belly. A market is about consumption. The Common Market is conceived of as a distended stomach: a large organ with various traps, digestive chambers and fiscal acids, assimilating a rich diet of consumer goods. It has no mind, no direction, no other identity: it is imagined as either digesting or as in a replete, post-prandial states easily confused with benevolence of idealism.
Click to expand...
 
www.wired.co.uk

Germany is bracing for a major electric vehicle shock

Volkswagen and the German car industry are retooling for a future without combustion engines. But thousands of smaller car-part makers fear for their future
www.wired.co.uk www.wired.co.uk


Is probably worth noting EY us bringing in tariffs on imported batteries (trying to block Asia mainly) though UK made batteries (and we do have some good lithium) effectively Single Market


Be interesting to see how chlorine develops
 
The State of the European Union session mentioned above has been described as 'arguably one of the highlights for all followers of EU affairs' . However, not many of our Remainer friends seem to follow EU affairs preferring instead to have a somewhat rose tinted image of what the EU stands for.

Here's the view from the European Trade Union association who are for remaining but reforming the EU (and no doubt who are agitating for strikes to put up food prices)

 
Meshed in with the EU stuff - because in defence/Foreign policy nothing is only about one particular relationship/situation - Australia has a 90 billion Aus$ deal with the French submarine builder Naval Group to build 12 big, long ranged diesel-electric boats, and its fair to say it's a project that's not gone well.

Anyway, the serious chat is that Australia is about the ditch the programme - big blow to French sub building - and instead join a joint US/UK team to produce a class of nuclear powered hunter-killer subs instead, which will go down like cold sick in Paris.

This is a very big deal for the Aussies, who've always had a big political problem with nuclear propulsion, but China (Australia not happy with EU stance..), and the problems with the French boats, appear to be forcing their hands.
 
Confirmed in a joint AUs, UK, US broadcast at 22.00 - French deal dead, subs to be built in Adelaide. New, formal 3 party defence, technology and diplomatic grouping called AUKUS, effectively the hard core of the 5 eyes group.

The EU slant of this is that: a) the earnings from the French-Aus deal were going to provide some of the funding for the French Navy submarine programme - now the only EU state with nuclear weapons - and now they won't. The French will plough on, they'll retain the capability, they'll just have less cash for other stuff. See the stuff above about EU military capability - the French are the core of that. Less French stuff ='s less stuff.

b) the China thing is beginning to cause problems. Germany has long pushed a soft line, and partners in the Indo-Pacific region are going public with their exasperation, and they aren't buying EU produced stuff to build up their military capabilities. That makes EU products more expensive for those who do buy them, which means they buy less/fewer...

It's not the fall of Rome, but it's interesting.
 
French not happy...
French Embassy U.S. (@franceintheus) Tweeted: “The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.” Communiqué conjoint de Jean-Yves Le Drian et de Florence Parly (16.09.2021)

There's a statement that says that this is a further demonstration of the need for European 'sovereign autonomy' - which is one of the apparent pillars of the EU defence thing - the amusing/snidey thing is that the French aren't keen on other EU states choosing stuff that isn't French, so sovereign autonomy is something they see as very much having a French flag on it, which not a veiw all EU members (to be euphemistic) share...
 
kebabking said:
Meshed in with the EU stuff - because in defence/Foreign policy nothing is only about one particular relationship/situation - Australia has a 90 billion Aus$ deal with the French submarine builder Naval Group to build 12 big, long ranged diesel-electric boats, and its fair to say it's a project that's not gone well.

Anyway, the serious chat is that Australia is about the ditch the programme - big blow to French sub building - and instead join a joint US/UK team to produce a class of nuclear powered hunter-killer subs instead, which will go down like cold sick in Paris.

This is a very big deal for the Aussies, who've always had a big political problem with nuclear propulsion, but China (Australia not happy with EU stance..), and the problems with the French boats, appear to be forcing their hands.
Click to expand...
Did they start building the subs or were they cancelled before they began?
 
Spymaster said:
Did they start building the subs or were they cancelled before they began?
Click to expand...

Not being built in any recognisable form, but lots of long lead components ordered, production systems being built, lots of (expensive) design work being done.

The press think the cancellation penalty will be about half a billion - so probably a lot less than it would be be in a year, or 3...
 
Interesting grant that shows neo liberalism doesn't respect borders. I imagine that trend would pretty much be the same across the EU states

 
kebabking said:
Confirmed in a joint AUs, UK, US broadcast at 22.00 - French deal dead, subs to be built in Adelaide. New, formal 3 party defence, technology and diplomatic grouping called AUKUS, effectively the hard core of the 5 eyes group.

The EU slant of this is that: a) the earnings from the French-Aus deal were going to provide some of the funding for the French Navy submarine programme - now the only EU state with nuclear weapons - and now they won't. The French will plough on, they'll retain the capability, they'll just have less cash for other stuff. See the stuff above about EU military capability - the French are the core of that. Less French stuff ='s less stuff.

b) the China thing is beginning to cause problems. Germany has long pushed a soft line, and partners in the Indo-Pacific region are going public with their exasperation, and they aren't buying EU produced stuff to build up their military capabilities. That makes EU products more expensive for those who do buy them, which means they buy less/fewer...

It's not the fall of Rome, but it's interesting.
Click to expand...


This all ties in very much with what proponents of Brexit were on about, on the global stage the EU being yesterday's news, stewing in its closed minded pot, failing to understand the dynamics of the world as it is evolving and being prepared to deal with it.

Little Europeaneers.
 
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