I was disappointed by your rather disparaging reference to the UK. If Europe is to build independent resilience then the EU could look to its largest and oldest members to pull up their bootstraps. Both France and Germany currently spend less than the UK on defence as a percentage of GDP, while the ROI spends a paltry 0.2%. The EU average is only 1.7%, boosted by the much higher spending of some of the newer EU members, notably Poland at 4.1%.
Graham, my apologies for the delay in replying. I was travelling and in meetings since Sunday. Just home last night, Wednesday. Of course, I am embarrassed by what Ireland spends on defence, and I hope this will change soon. It needs to. The whole of Europe needs to spend more. We can no longer count on an unreliable America.
But I make no apologies for my remarks about the UK. I have long had the view that the UK is either in Europe or it is out of Europe. I disagree with its "pick 'n mix" approach, wanting all the good bits but saying "no" when obligations are involved. The UK made its political choice with Brexit. There are consequences that flow from that choice, but Starmer and the government do not fully seem to get that.
Sharp take on post-Brexit Europe's position! The framing of the UK as "just a small island off the Eurasian landmass" versus the imperial nostalgia really crystallizes the tension. I've been following EU labor policy shifts since the US pulled back from multilateral commitments, and there's been this quiet recalibration happening - less Atlantic-facing, more focus on building internal resilience. The distinction between Trump-as-transactional-dealmaker and the WCN ideological core is spot on. Trump's gonna do whatever serves his immediate intrests, but the infrastructure being built around that will outlast him.Totally agree Europe needs to walk its own path now, though the political will part is where it gets tricky.
Thanks. I will write more about this during the coming months. We Europeans need to accept that the world has changed and the old world is not coming back.
I was disappointed by your rather disparaging reference to the UK. If Europe is to build independent resilience then the EU could look to its largest and oldest members to pull up their bootstraps. Both France and Germany currently spend less than the UK on defence as a percentage of GDP, while the ROI spends a paltry 0.2%. The EU average is only 1.7%, boosted by the much higher spending of some of the newer EU members, notably Poland at 4.1%.
Graham, my apologies for the delay in replying. I was travelling and in meetings since Sunday. Just home last night, Wednesday. Of course, I am embarrassed by what Ireland spends on defence, and I hope this will change soon. It needs to. The whole of Europe needs to spend more. We can no longer count on an unreliable America.
But I make no apologies for my remarks about the UK. I have long had the view that the UK is either in Europe or it is out of Europe. I disagree with its "pick 'n mix" approach, wanting all the good bits but saying "no" when obligations are involved. The UK made its political choice with Brexit. There are consequences that flow from that choice, but Starmer and the government do not fully seem to get that.
Sharp take on post-Brexit Europe's position! The framing of the UK as "just a small island off the Eurasian landmass" versus the imperial nostalgia really crystallizes the tension. I've been following EU labor policy shifts since the US pulled back from multilateral commitments, and there's been this quiet recalibration happening - less Atlantic-facing, more focus on building internal resilience. The distinction between Trump-as-transactional-dealmaker and the WCN ideological core is spot on. Trump's gonna do whatever serves his immediate intrests, but the infrastructure being built around that will outlast him.Totally agree Europe needs to walk its own path now, though the political will part is where it gets tricky.
Thanks. I will write more about this during the coming months. We Europeans need to accept that the world has changed and the old world is not coming back.