12 MAY 2007, Page 26

Power to the EU

Sir: John Laughland’s pro-Europeans justify the European Union’s existence because it has created peace in Europe. But proEuropeans cannot, any longer, use the ‘peace argument’ to support their case, for peace has now — we hope — been permanently achieved in Europe. Instead, the European Union must serve a new function and, potentially, one even more important than it did in the past.

We live in a world undergoing severe shifts in power. New giants such as China and India are emerging fast in Asia, and dormant powers like Iran and Russia are re-asserting themselves again. It is hard to believe that this will not transfer into politico-military strength. America’s power will be pulled everywhere and, it is likely, away from Europe. In the changing world, the European Union becomes the vehicle with which we can retain our influence and trading power well into the coming century. Europe’s task was at first to prevent its member states from going to war with one another; now its mission is to protect them from external aggression and to project their power abroad. The European Union must now become a global power, and Britain — as Europe’s pre-eminent military power — is best placed to carry forward the project, and for its own national interest.

James Rogers

Director of Operations, The Henry Jackson Society, Cambridge