Back in November 2022 I wrote an article covering the EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). This group of EU member states agreed on 7^th September 2017 to form a military cooperation pact within member states for mutual defence.

PESCO is under the governance of the European Defence Agency (EDA) and all member states are required to sign up to the EDA’s regulations regarding defence and military action, there are currently 26 European member states, and the UK is a third-party member, although outside the EU.

The then Prime Minister Liz Truss signed an agreement with the EDA hence the UK joined as a member of PESCO on 6^th October 2022 and on the 15^{th of} November 2022 the UK joined with the Netherlands to work on the Military Mobility Project. This project is effectively a military Schengen to allow the free movement of member states across Europe. Would this mobility project be better handled by NATO rather than PESCO and the EDA?

The security and defence of the UK is and should always be the number one priority of any government, it would now seem that this not the case. It would appear that the Government has been in talks with the EU and the EDA with an aim of handing governance of our armed forces to Brussels to create a common and harmonious joint defence force, thus reducing costs.

However, will this mean that the UK will be required to fall in line with future procurement and buy the hardware the EDA tells it to? Will our armed forces be directed on operations by the EDA? Will the UK be able to conduct operations as it sees fit, but only with agreement from the EDA? What of the UK’s nuclear deterrent? Will this fall under the jurisdiction of the EDA, one would certainly hope not. In the future, I can see our armed forces quietly becoming part of the European Army, an aim that the EU have held for a long time.

By signing up to PESCO, part of the joint agreement is to, “share the EU’s values and their laws” and to contribute to the European Defence Fund. All of this is being agreed under a cloak of, “you the people do not need to know”.

The UK and all the other member PESCO states are also members of NATO, a strong and reliable defence pact that has worked well since the end of the 2^nd World War, so why do we need to sign up to a European Defence Pact, especially as we are no longer a member of the EU? The USA is very sceptical of the reasoning behind PESCO and are not happy about the arrangement.

I wonder what the final end game of this quietly manoeuvred closer cooperation with the EU is?

The UK is now required to share EU values and their laws, is this the thin edge of closer cooperation wedge to bring the UK back under total control of the EU? The lack of transparency and dissemination of information on PESCO and the EDA by the government certainly makes me think so.

Sqn Ldr Peter Richardson R’td

UK Independence Party - Defence and Veterans Spokesman