From Lisbon towards the EU via Elisabeth Rehn and Maj-Britt Theorin
By Mikael on Tuesday 4 March 2008, 10:00 - Permalink
Wayne Hall, in his comment to a previous entry on the subject From Lisbon
towards the EU via Spinelli, asked:
My answer is yes, although the Treaty Establishing the European Union (1984), drafted by Spinelli, was not exactly "a resolution".
The Lisbon Treaty, which is the most recent variety of "Treaty on EU", is particularly bad and dangerous on security and defense policy. For instance, it commits all member states to increasing their military spending. Just imagine that it would instead tell each member state to invest in, say, renewable energy sources and public transport!
Now, a switch from militarism to environmentalism is precisely what Finnish MEP Elisabeth Rehn, later followed by Swedish MEP Maj-Britt Theorin, proposed in the European Parliament back in the 1990s.
On May 19, 1995, MEP Elisabeth Rehn, the former minister of defence of Finland, pointed to "unexplored possibilities opened by the new international situation and the political detente and military de-escalation". Ms Rehn said: "for the European Union the initiative in integrating military-related resources inte environmental strategies would be an opportunity to take the lead in new and peaceful means". Based on these and other arguments, Rehn tabled a motion for a resolution "on the potential use of military-related resources for environmental strategies" (B4-055195).
This resolution was later followed up by an extensive report on the environment, security and foreign policy, from the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy (CFDP). The Rapporteur, Maj-Britt Theorin, is well-known for her engagement in favor of nuclear disarmament and the conversion of the military industry to peaceful ends.
Theorin's report, dated January 14, 1999 (A4-0005/99) calls on the EU Commission to present "a common strategy" which " brings together the CFSP aspects of EU policy with its trade, aid, development and
international environmental policies between 2000 and 2010". The report stresses, notably, that "preventive environmental measures are an important instrument of security policy". In short, the report recommends that the Member States seek to utilize military-related resources for environmental protection.
When I read the Theorin report today, and compare it to the spirit and letter of the Lisbon treaty, my heart is only filled with sorrow and indignation.
In reality, the militarism of the Lisbon Treaty makes the EU disintegrate politically. Only some kind of latter-day Fascists might want the EU to become a new superpower which crushes the rest of humanity under its economic competition and weapons of mass destruction.
After all, the EU can also become a democratic power and a real political union. The first condition for that to happen is that the EU replaces its plans for economic and military domination with an environmentally and socially motivated strategy. And here, obviously, the proposals of Elisabeth Rehn and Maj-Britt Theorin are constant sources of inspiration, precisely like the original EU-project of Altiero Spinelli.
Is this the place to mention another EU resolution was not adopted, namely that of Maj Britt Theorin, in 1999, on The Environment, Security and Foreign Policy?
My answer is yes, although the Treaty Establishing the European Union (1984), drafted by Spinelli, was not exactly "a resolution".
The Lisbon Treaty, which is the most recent variety of "Treaty on EU", is particularly bad and dangerous on security and defense policy. For instance, it commits all member states to increasing their military spending. Just imagine that it would instead tell each member state to invest in, say, renewable energy sources and public transport!
Now, a switch from militarism to environmentalism is precisely what Finnish MEP Elisabeth Rehn, later followed by Swedish MEP Maj-Britt Theorin, proposed in the European Parliament back in the 1990s.
On May 19, 1995, MEP Elisabeth Rehn, the former minister of defence of Finland, pointed to "unexplored possibilities opened by the new international situation and the political detente and military de-escalation". Ms Rehn said: "for the European Union the initiative in integrating military-related resources inte environmental strategies would be an opportunity to take the lead in new and peaceful means". Based on these and other arguments, Rehn tabled a motion for a resolution "on the potential use of military-related resources for environmental strategies" (B4-055195).
This resolution was later followed up by an extensive report on the environment, security and foreign policy, from the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy (CFDP). The Rapporteur, Maj-Britt Theorin, is well-known for her engagement in favor of nuclear disarmament and the conversion of the military industry to peaceful ends.
Theorin's report, dated January 14, 1999 (A4-0005/99) calls on the EU Commission to present "a common strategy" which " brings together the CFSP aspects of EU policy with its trade, aid, development and
international environmental policies between 2000 and 2010". The report stresses, notably, that "preventive environmental measures are an important instrument of security policy". In short, the report recommends that the Member States seek to utilize military-related resources for environmental protection.
When I read the Theorin report today, and compare it to the spirit and letter of the Lisbon treaty, my heart is only filled with sorrow and indignation.
In reality, the militarism of the Lisbon Treaty makes the EU disintegrate politically. Only some kind of latter-day Fascists might want the EU to become a new superpower which crushes the rest of humanity under its economic competition and weapons of mass destruction.
After all, the EU can also become a democratic power and a real political union. The first condition for that to happen is that the EU replaces its plans for economic and military domination with an environmentally and socially motivated strategy. And here, obviously, the proposals of Elisabeth Rehn and Maj-Britt Theorin are constant sources of inspiration, precisely like the original EU-project of Altiero Spinelli.