Earlier this month, two GUE/NGL MEPs took part in the Fifth Inter-parliamentary conference on the EU's common foreign, security, and defence policy in Rome.

“We are highly concerned by the course taken by the EU,” said German MEP Sabine Lösing, a Vice President of Parliament's Security and Defence subcommittee. “The use of military means in international politics has exponentially increased since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, and foreign policy is becoming ever more interventionist in nature.”

She continued: “The disastrous effects of military interventions in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, DR Congo, and Somalia prove that this policy is the wrong approach. Given that it has been proven that poverty is one of the main causes of violent conflicts, a much more successful approach would be to shift defence expenditure to development and poverty reduction strategies.”

Sabine Lösing also commented on new High Representative HR/VP Federica Mogherini, stating that there was “unfortunately no sign the EU's new top diplomat on foreign policy intends to break with the status quo of military interventions as an accepted part of external policy”.

“Once again, the EU – in this case its parliamentary representatives – has missed a valuable opportunity to expose US defence policy,” commented Spanish MEP Javier Couso, a Vice President on Parliament's Foreign Affairs committee. “The so-called 'special trans-Atlantic relationship' is in reality an intellectual and political curtain hiding the supremacy of US geopolitical interests over EU external policies.”

“Europe should promote stability in the Middle East and not chaos. Instead of damaging relations with neighbouring countries it should be forging positive ones. Only an independent European policy could assure that peace and human rights, authentic values of the European spirit, prevail over warmongering and aggressive expansionism, values of the American state.”

MEPs Lösing and Couso both affirmed that they do not support the conclusions of this inter-parliamentary conference.

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:
Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
European United Left / Nordic Green Left
European Parliamentary Group