Monday, October 17, 2011

Rupert Matthews believes the EU may invade Britain with tanks

On Friday Bagehot in The Economist turned his attention to the East Midlands new MEP Rupert Matthews:
Mr Matthews is also a man of robust views, it emerges. In particular, he is exercised by the Lisbon Treaty, which he asserts grants the European Commission powers to invade Britain, should the British ever try to leave the union. 
I spent many weary hours reading the treaty, and cannot for the life of me think of the articles he is referring to.There are treaty articles which talk of deploying military forces on peacekeeping missions outside the Union, but they all make clear that national governments are in charge of such missions. There is a bit about member states being entitled to ask for help in the event of a natural disaster or attack, but only at their own initiative. 
There is an article which talks about uses for Europol, a body bringing together policemen from forces across the EU, but it expressly states: "Any operational action by Europol must be carried out in liaison and in agreement with the authorities of the Member State or States whose territory is concerned."
Anyway, as Bagehot suggests, I shall let Mr Matthews speak for himself...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not just tanks Jonathan

Panzers