CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

'DEFENCE – EUROPEAN DEFENCE 'IDENTITY' - 22 February 2000

'DEFENCE – EUROPEAN DEFENCE 'IDENTITY' - 22 February 2000

Dr Julian Lewis: Is it not the case that the process goes back to before St. Malo? Article B of the Amsterdam treaty specifically says that the European Union

"shall set itself the following objectives:

"to assert its identity on the international scene, in particular through the implementation of a common foreign and security policy including the progressive framing of a common defence policy."

That is what it is all about. It is about enabling the EU to assert its identity, not about defending this country.