As has been pointed out elsewhere in this magazine, the UK no longer has an independent Defence or Foreign Affairs posture. It is now linked to the Foreign Affairs of the EU.
The most significant event in EU Foreign Affairs was the signing on 27 June 2014 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement by European Union Heads of State and Government and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels. The Agreement comes into effect on 31st December 2015. What happened last time there was an attempt at a Ukraine-EU Association Agreement?
The last time that the EU tried to get an Association Agreement (AA) with the Ukraine was in 2013. What happened as a result is summarised in the Parliamentary European Union Committee report: "The EU and Russia: before and beyond the crisis in Ukraine". Basically the EU Association Agreement started the war:
"PHASE II: PRESIDENT YANUKOVYCH SUSPENDS SIGNATURE OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT—MAIDAN SQUARE PROTESTS
185. In November 2013, President Yanukovych decided to suspend the signature of the AA. The domestic economic situation had become very pressing, partly due to Russia's restrictive trade measures. EU Member States had committed to facilitating an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan in the region of $15 billion, but this was conditional on reforms which would have been difficult to deliver in the short term. On the other side, Russia offered Ukraine a $15 billion loan, without specific conditions, which was likely to be accompanied by the lifting of Russian trade restrictions and a large gas discount.[276]
186. President Yanukovych's decision not to sign the AA triggered the protests now referred to as "the Maidan." These protests took both the EU and Russia by surprise. Events had begun to take on a momentum of their own which neither side could predict or control."
Despite having precipitated a war with the previous Association Agreement the EU has pressed on with a new Agreement. The new Association Agreement has scarcely been considered in the UK Media. However, it has worried the Dutch so much that they are agitating for a referendum to consider whether it should happen.
The Russians are quite clear that the AA is part of a plot to encircle them:
Ukraine EU Washington Russia
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-achieves-political-draw-sanctions-war-europe/ri9513
The UK cannot prevent itself from being dragged in to this EU brinkmanship. The EU style of diplomacy looks dangerous by British standards, would the UK have tweaked the Russian's sensibilities in this way in the past?
Why does the EU need the UK's Trident Deterrent? - to give it the power to threaten Russia. Don't believe that Trident is an EU deterrent? - see EU Defence Policy and British Forces.
28/9/15
The most significant event in EU Foreign Affairs was the signing on 27 June 2014 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement by European Union Heads of State and Government and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels. The Agreement comes into effect on 31st December 2015. What happened last time there was an attempt at a Ukraine-EU Association Agreement?
The last time that the EU tried to get an Association Agreement (AA) with the Ukraine was in 2013. What happened as a result is summarised in the Parliamentary European Union Committee report: "The EU and Russia: before and beyond the crisis in Ukraine". Basically the EU Association Agreement started the war:
"PHASE II: PRESIDENT YANUKOVYCH SUSPENDS SIGNATURE OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT—MAIDAN SQUARE PROTESTS
185. In November 2013, President Yanukovych decided to suspend the signature of the AA. The domestic economic situation had become very pressing, partly due to Russia's restrictive trade measures. EU Member States had committed to facilitating an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan in the region of $15 billion, but this was conditional on reforms which would have been difficult to deliver in the short term. On the other side, Russia offered Ukraine a $15 billion loan, without specific conditions, which was likely to be accompanied by the lifting of Russian trade restrictions and a large gas discount.[276]
186. President Yanukovych's decision not to sign the AA triggered the protests now referred to as "the Maidan." These protests took both the EU and Russia by surprise. Events had begun to take on a momentum of their own which neither side could predict or control."
Despite having precipitated a war with the previous Association Agreement the EU has pressed on with a new Agreement. The new Association Agreement has scarcely been considered in the UK Media. However, it has worried the Dutch so much that they are agitating for a referendum to consider whether it should happen.
The Russians are quite clear that the AA is part of a plot to encircle them:
Ukraine EU Washington Russia
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-achieves-political-draw-sanctions-war-europe/ri9513
The UK cannot prevent itself from being dragged in to this EU brinkmanship. The EU style of diplomacy looks dangerous by British standards, would the UK have tweaked the Russian's sensibilities in this way in the past?
Why does the EU need the UK's Trident Deterrent? - to give it the power to threaten Russia. Don't believe that Trident is an EU deterrent? - see EU Defence Policy and British Forces.
28/9/15
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