French DM Jean-Yves Le Drian made a last minute appeal to Britain to remain in the EU right before last night’s vote, in which Britain ultimately decided to leave the union, Le Drian’s argument was primarily a military one, arguing Britain would be “weaker” without the EU, and the EU would be weaker without Britain.
Other French officials are also expressing concerns about that, now that the vote is in, noting that Britain and French represented the biggest military forces in the EU, and saying they believe post-Brexit Britain might start looking to cut military spending at any rate.
Britain and France also have extremely close military ties, to the point where during discussions on austerity measures, the two had discussed the possibility of “sharing” an aircraft carrier as a way to cut down on expenses.
With Britain out of the EU, France ends up the preeminent military power in the union, though since both will remain NATO members, there really is no reason to think their military ties will be greatly effected. Those ties simply won’t extend to a unified European Union force.
The European Union doesn’t have much in the way of a unified military at any rate, and the Brexit portends a backlash against such multi-national unification that makes any moves in that direction more unlikely now.
France was, among EU nations, particularly keen to push European military unity, and President Hollande has sought to invokve Article 42 mutual defense after November’s Paris attacks.
What military power?The power to kill Muslim civilians?The power where terror is expanding?Its all a joke on the world,Zionism and its infectious touch..
It’s being predicted that the center of power in Europe is going to shift from London to Berlin. Perhaps there are some in France who are still wary of “Ze Germans”
Perhaps there is a hint here that NATO is surreptitiously the de facto army of the EU?
If EU has less military power , so what will that hurt . Whose going to attack Europe anyway . The E.U. looks like they need more police .
NATO has been acting reckless from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Brexit is a warning sign to scale back the recklessness behavior.
A weaker UK and a weaker Europe can only be a good thing if it forces these “colonialists without a pot to pee in” to stop supporting America’s regime change wars. If this had happened 15 years ago, Bush may not have been able to invade Iraq. These imperialists will fail and fall because their program is immoral and inhumane, and it simply won’t work in the long term. They are bankrupting themselves and sowing the seeds of their own destruction.