Friday

29th Mar 2024

UK snubs Ashton over EU military headquarters

  • Ashton says the new 'situation room' cost the EU no extra money (Photo: Council of European Union)

British foreign minister William Hague on Monday (18 July) said his country would "never" agree to the idea of a single EU military headquarters to replace the command centres scattered around five member states.

"I have made very clear that the United Kingdom will not agree to a permanent operational HQ. We will not agree to it now and we will not agree to it in the future. That is a red line," Hague told reporters after a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

He argued that a permanent headquarters would duplicate Nato structures and would be a "waste of money".

Speaking at a parallel press conference, Ashton said that the British rebuke "did not come as a surprise to me".

"This is the same position as the previous British government," she explained, in reference to the Labour cabinet which put her forward to become EU's first foreign affairs and security policy chief.

Initially a French pet project, the idea of establishing a single operational headquarters was written into the Ashton report as part of "different options" being explored by "most member states" on how to make the bloc's common and foreign security policy more effective.

"The argument goes like this: each time you produce a headquarters in a different country and finish the mission, maybe you lose the expertise of that project," she said.

But her report also refers to the "alternative view" pushed forward by the British, saying that member state assets have to be used effectively and having an operational headquarters like the one in Northwood for the EU naval anti-piracy mission "should not be changed".

Ashton argued it was important to "put all options on the table, even if we knew that member states are going to reject them."

Asked if she will now bin the plan of having a single command structure, Ashton said: "We continue to explore what we might be able to do, but I am conscious you can't do much when unanimity of member states is required."

She pointed however to the opening of the EU external action service's own situation room on Monday, as a good example of "pooling resources and offering 24/7 monitoring" to enable the bloc with a quicker response to crises around the world. "And all this at no extra costs for the EU budget."

Commenting on the "excellent" proposal, French minister Alain Juppe said it was a pity the British government did not show more flexibility.

"A very large majority was in favour of the proposal of an EU military headquarters, pushed by the "Weimar countries," he said, in reference to Poland, France and Germany.

The single headquarters system would replace the current command structure which sees the EU military missions run out of national centres in Britain, France, Germany, Greece and Italy.

Letter

Unsubstantiated tittle-tattle from anonymous 'sources'

Your article "Staff leaving EU diplomatic service amid bad working conditions" is riddled with inaccuracies and appears to be based entirely on unsubstantiated tittle-tattle from anonymous 'sources'.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us