The Good Old Days

As someone who spends his political life in international politics, it would probably be appropriate for me to pen something on how commendable the treaties, concluded the other day, between the French and British governments on military cooperation are. After all, do I not want some form of increased cooperation, with a reduction of the size of national military forces to as small a size as feasible, making more room for civil activities in the goings-on of government (not to mention lessening the all the silly stuff around funny hats and shiny boots)? Well, yes, I want such a sort of thing to happen. Why should we waste money and effort in creating a massively duplicated set of armed forces around Europe, when we can share capacities with our neighbours (with whom we are bound to ever closer union)?

Though treaties on sharing military capacity might seem to be a step in the direction of what I profess to desire, I don’t think this latest set of developments signals such a move. Conversely, I think it is a profoundly anti-European action. Rather than put efforts into greater cooperation with other countries (including of course, France), the British and French governments have chosen to bypass the European sphere, and go for a distinctly Anglo-Franco deal. It is a retreat to the comforts of intergovernmentalism, a petty treaty of old, concluded in such a fashion, and lacking the recognition of the importance of Europe sticking together in the ever more diverse world which we now inhabit.

Photo: Creative Commons, The Prime Minister’s Office, Flickr