Europe, social or military?
- Next Sunday, the elections to the European Parliament will also be held in Brussels. Surely, the political parties have chosen to conceal military issues and, with the aim of obtaining votes, everyone has been more concerned about social issues. In the next legislature, however, security policy will be the central focus of the European Commission and the European Parliament, as the military project of a European army is the most important bet in the European Union’s integration process.
Officials and diplomats are already concerned about the influence that this military project and the name of the “European army” can have on society. German Manfred Weber, candidate of the European People’s Party and next EU President, said: “We have to have great ambitions. The non-repetition of war in Europe is a fundamental idea. Today it is unthinkable. But it would be absolutely unthinkable with a shared European army.”
Despite being fractioned, European military spending in 2018 amounted to USD 284 billion, compared to USD 18.2 billion in the Spanish State and USD 63.8 billion in France with Basque taxes, behind US spending (USD 649.000 million). Former NATO spokesman, analyst Jaime Seha, believes that “we must compete militarily if we want to defend our values”. It therefore calls for more resources to be allocated to the arms industry, just as lobbies in this sector put pressure on the EU every day. The Basques and the Europeans have a good opportunity to decide whether they want a more social or more military Europe. The political parties attending these elections should publicly discuss such a serious issue rather than conceal it.
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The... [+]
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