Peter Hoskin

Whither should we turn – America or Europe?

In a speech today, Liam Fox spelt-out what the Lisbon Treaty means for defence alliances.  As he sees it, the treaty would cause greater integration of European security forces, to the detriment of NATO:

“The Lisbon Treaty should be viewed as a warning to the British public and Atlanticists across Europe.

On a recent trip to Washington I couldn’t help but notice some of the isolationist rhetoric coming from that side of the Atlantic. Closer to home we are dealing with forces in Government that are pushing for closer European integration. Both American isolationism and European integration threaten to tear the tried-and-tested NATO alliance apart.

Consequently, the defence innovations included in the Lisbon Treaty give the UK two options.

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