Retired Senior Officers and Politics
An interesting range of opinions above.
My view on security and the EU is exactly the opposite of that expressed by the Senior Officers. It is my opinion that rather than increase our security, the EU, as it is currently organised, is a positive risk to the security of the UK. It was the EU's brash intervention in the problematic Ukraine that fanned the flames of conflict there. The EU handling of the Yugoslavian crisis in 1991/2 was worse than pathetic and our US allies had to come in and sort the mess out. Europe's very limited (and mistaken in my view) air intervention in Libya was an embarrassment due to lack of European air assets (tanker and reconnaissance capabilities) and a quickly depleted inventory of smart weapons. Worse, we had no post action plan, (zero lessons learned from Gulf Wars 1 and 2).
When the EU tore down its internal borders it failed to bolster its external borders to ensure the security of the Union. This has allowed large numbers of refugees, asylum seekers and fellow travellers from the Middle east and Africa to gain entry into Europe. The problem has been made worse by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, unilaterally opening Germany's borders to the refugees without discussing it with its fellow countries. This has led to severe internal problems for many of the European countries. Now, the EU is trying to make the problem exclusively Greek by creating a new EU border on the Greek Macedonian border leaving Greece hung out to dry. So much for European solidarity! More recently, we have been told in today's press that thousands of the "refugees" that Chancellor Merkel welcomed with open arms have disappeared off the radar. Worse, it would seem that some of those missing may have links to the terrorists that carried out the attacks in Paris.
I, along with most other people in the country, rely upon the press and TV for information. I assume our senior officers have better sources. But looking at the EU's current policies and its past and current performance in crisis management, I have come to the opinion that if bad things are going to happen, you can almost bet that Europe will either be the cause, or at best a hindrance to those trying to sort matters out.