Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-21-Speech-3-461-000"

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"Mr President, I would like to thank all of my colleagues who were involved in the preparation of this report in all of their groups. It is very pleasing to see such a broad consensus that the European Union has to equip itself with the means to achieve a global, international ambition, including a security and defence policy. Like the Minister, I am sorry that our British colleagues still have a very ideological and completely unpragmatic position, which is reflected in their actions. They have spoken here as the representatives of a great military nation, but they should not be under any illusions. That great military nation is also going to suffer, and is already suffering, a considerable strategic decline, with defence budget cuts, and problems with materials and human resources, like all European countries. Of course, NATO is our last resource, but NATO will not be able to intervene always and everywhere to defend European interests. Some Member States are not members of NATO. Some NATO countries will not always be prepared to defend European interests. We have to face up to that possibility. The European Union must therefore maintain a form of autonomy, which is not rivalry, competition or duplication, but intelligent complementarity. That is already the case across all of the European Union’s missions: more than a dozen missions are being carried out successfully today and are expected – and this is the most important aspect – by the countries that are in crisis. They recognise the European Union’s legitimacy and, undoubtedly, they would not be prepared to do that for any other international actor. We must be proud of that and we must restate this ambition. I hope that the relatively strong vote tomorrow in favour of this report will help the High Representative and the Council to forge ahead."@en1
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