European Union

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:57 pm on 25 May 1999.

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Photo of Mike Gapes Mike Gapes Labour/Co-operative, Ilford South 6:57, 25 May 1999

I am grateful for that intervention, as I shall deal with the EU and the European security and defence identity in a moment. Anyone who has been to Estonia, as I have, and has seen where Narva is in relation to St. Petersburg will know that these areas are very close, and it would take no more than a few minutes for troops to go from one side of the waters to the other.

In his opening remarks, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary mentioned the complications for countries that are members of NATO but not members of the European Union. He did not mention countries that are members of the European Union but not members of NATO: specifically Sweden, Finland, Austria and Ireland. There has been a continuing debate among the neutral and non-aligned states in the EU about the relationship between the WEU, which they also do not belong to, and the EU. If the WEU is to be completely removed from the scene, and if the EU is to take on all the functions of the WEU, the nature of the EU will significantly change. It will change not only for potential applicant members in the future, but for some existing member states.

I have been a long-time supporter of NATO. I even wrote a pamphlet 10 years ago that was not popular with people in the peace movement at that time, in which I argued strongly for Britain to stay in NATO. I describe myself as a left-Atlanticist, and I still take that position. However, I believe that it is time for Europe to have a much stronger defence identity. It is time for us to be able to take action as Europeans together in our own continent without having to rely on the whims of Congressmen from Alaska or Nebraska. We must be able to do that, as Europeans, but we must do it sensitively and we must take account of the political sensitivities and realities of this continent and our neighbours.

The communique that came out of the NATO summit on the future strategic concept of the alliance said:

This process will require close co-operation between NATO, the WEU and, if and when appropriate, the European Union. How is that appropriate relationship to be worked out? Difficulties have already been highlighted by other member states. Only a few days ago, the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Mr. von Sydow, made a speech to an important meeting of the WEU Council of Ministers. He made an important statement when he talked about the Petersburg tasks that are currently on the agenda and are undertaken by the WEU. He said:

We must not risk losing the current momentum in the debate by entering into the issue of common defence. Just to be clear: Sweden cannot accept that the mutual defence commitments of article V of the Modified Brussels Treaty be included in the EU. That is the Swedish position. There are similar concerns in other countries.

I hope that our Government, while pushing for greater co-operation with France over the St. Malo declaration—which I support—and for greater co-operation with Germany, will retain their traditional close relationship with the Nordic countries, particularly their excellent relations with Sweden and Finland, so that, in establishing the European security and defence identity and a much stronger European voice within the Atlantic alliance, they do not risk making the position more difficult for existing EU members that are traditionally neutral and non-aligned, and do not, in effect, block future enlargement of the EU by other states.

On economic grounds—certainly Estonia is already there—there is no reason why the Baltic states should not be able to be involved in the European Union. The Finnish-Estonian linguistic relationship, the economic relations between countries from one side of the Baltic to the other and the good relations in the region, all point to the fact that there is a logic in having countries on both sides of the sea within the European Union.

That could help Russia economically. The European Union would be so close to the Russian market; Russian trade could go backwards and forwards into the EU. It would be a good way to build European security, but my worry is that, if we complicate the matter by getting into a discussion about defence, whereby the Russians fear that NATO's borders are being expanded to the borders of St. Petersburg, we will set back that economic development and non-military aspects of security.

It is important to recognise that, whatever the outcome of the current difficulties in the Balkans—the European Union clearly has an important role to play in the reconstruction programme and in building civil society, not just in Serbia, but in Croatia, Macedonia and other states in the Balkans—we need to move our focus a little further, to recognise that other potential areas of conflict border the continent of Europe, and that our relations with Russia, and future relations between all of Europe, east and west, remain vital to us all.