Britain blocks EU operations center

The British are drawing lines in the sand when it comes to European Union military cooperation. Foreign Secretary William Hague apparently just shot down plans for a permanent EU operations headquarters supported by Catherine Ashton: Hague said Britain had vetoed the idea, which under EU rules would have to be agreed by all 27 member ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The British are drawing lines in the sand when it comes to European Union military cooperation. Foreign Secretary William Hague apparently just shot down plans for a permanent EU operations headquarters supported by Catherine Ashton:

The British are drawing lines in the sand when it comes to European Union military cooperation. Foreign Secretary William Hague apparently just shot down plans for a permanent EU operations headquarters supported by Catherine Ashton:

Hague said Britain had vetoed the idea, which under EU rules would have to be agreed by all 27 member states.

"I have made very clear that the United Kingdom will not agree to such a permanent OHQ. We will not agree to it now, we will not agree to it in the future. That is a red line for us," he told reporters.

"We are opposed to this idea because we think it duplicates NATO structures and permanently disassociates EU planning from NATO planning," Hague said.

"Secondly, it’s likely to be a much more costly solution than existing structures; and thirdly, a lot can be done by improving the structures that already exist."

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: EU

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