Juncker wants more European Union militarism

The European Union already has, not an official European Union army, but something close to it: the European Union Military Staff. The commander of its ‘department of crisis response and current operations’ used to be Greek general Georgios Epitideios. Also in Brussels, Epiteidios was senior staff member of NATO’s Central Command.

Recently, General Epitideios came back to Brussels. This time as Member of the European Parliament for the Greek nazi party Golden Dawn. Does European Commission boss Mr Juncker want someone like neo-nazi General Epitideios as commander of the European Union’s ‘stronger military fist’ plans? It would surely make for a better relationship with people in the armed forces of the Kiev government in Ukraine who wear swastikas and SS signs on their helmets and clothes [sarcasm off].

The new European Union ‘iron fist’ is an attack on the military neutrality of European Union member states like the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.

And surely, a ‘stronger military fist’ would cost more taxpayers’ money. More austerity for poor people, health, education, solving grave environmental problems, etc. etc. You cannot take care well of these issues, and at the same time wage neocolonial wars in Libya, Mali, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. etc.

These neocolonial wars are the cause of the millions of refugees fleeing. Racists abuse these people fleeing from bloody wars for xenophobic propaganda. Racists in both the Remain and Leave campaigns of the British European Union membership referendum abused the referendum for this. These wars, that militarism contributed to the pro-Leave vote.

It looks like the European Union fat cats did not learn anything from the pro-Brexit vote in Britain. More militarism looks like not holding the European Union together by pro-people policies, but by subservience to the military-industrial complex and bloodshed.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Juncker demands a more centralised EU

Thursday 15th September 2016

Commission head says bloc needs an army with ties to Nato

EU COMMMISION president Jean-Claude Juncker called for the bonds of Eurofederalism to be tightened yesterday in the face of Brexit.

Mr Juncker urged even further centralisation of powers to Brussels and the creation of European armed forces tied to Nato.

In his state of the European Union speech to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Juncker denied that the Leave victory in the June referendum had prompted a crisis in the supranational bloc.

But he admitted: “We have many unresolved problems,” blaming them on “galloping populism” from which Europe must be protected.

The commission president insisted that Britain could not remain part of the common market after leaving the EU without continuing to allow free movement of people across its borders.

Turning to the thorny issue of an EU army, which Britain has always opposed, Mr Juncker insisted: “We must have a European headquarters. Together, we have to make sure that we protect our interests.”

“This should be in complement to Nato,” he said. “More European defence in Europe doesn’t mean less transatlantic solidarity.”

Mr Juncker led last summer’s anti-democratic drive to force Greece to accept crippling austerity measures in return for a debt-restructuring bailout package, a deal that had already been rejected in a national referendum.

His centralisation drive puts him at odds with eastern European governments, which have been calling for a looser union in the wake of the Brexit vote.

On Tuesday, European Council president and former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk rejected calls for unelected Eurocrats to be given greater powers.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s post-Brexit summit in the Slovak capital Bratislava, he said EU institutions such as the commission should “support the priorities as agreed among member states and not impose their own.”

Two days before the post-Brexit summit in Bratislava on Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered his annual State of the European Union speech. Speaking before the European Parliament, he warned that the European Union is facing “an existential crisis” and made clear that the European ruling elite has nothing to offer to the European working class besides austerity, nationalism, police state build-up and war: here.

The German Ministry Of Defence has released the joint military policy paper of German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and her French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, which was earlier quoted in the European press in the run-up to the European Union (EU) summit in Bratislava. It underscores how Paris and Berlin are using the withdrawal of Britain from the EU to push forward the development of an independent European military and great power policy: here.

At an informal meeting of European Union (EU) defence ministers in Bratislava on Tuesday, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon denounced German-French plans for a European military union and the possible creation of a European army: here.

The European Union is responding to Britain’s exit by seeking to convert itself into an aggressive military bloc rivaling the United States: here.