Originally Posted by
Video Mixdown
I sincerely hope the answer is no. The UK’s support for European defence and security is through its full contribution to NATO - something most EU states signally fail to do. If they want a separate RRF they should fund it themselves.
Normally I'd tend to agree, but we are living in interesting times (which, for good or ill, we have just helped to make more interesting still) and I think the balance of considerations has shifted in a way that such a traditional binary approach isn't necessarily the smart play right now.
What we have here are fellow European nations beating a path to the UK's door to tell us that they both want and need us to be part of their undertaking. That's quite significant and not unhelpful from a UK viewpoint, bearing in mind that there are other areas where the UK rather wants to be part of the European setup, and getting their agreement to that hasn't always been straightforward. Incidentally I suspect it's no coincidence that they have chosen the Dutch to pitch it to us, unless the Dutch have chosen themselves. More surprising just now would have been a pitch by the French.
I suspect your view will prevail and it's one I entirely understand - the NATO point is an important one. But there are ways round things, our involvement could be couched around with statements about NATO primacy etc, UK assets temporarily attach themselves to EU efforts in the Med, the western Indian Ocean etc when it suits, and this needn't be too much different. Having the EU saying they want us along warrants a bit of magnanimity I think and it does no harm to take an opportunity to visibly underline our credentials as Europeans at this particular juncture.