"The Underlying Costs of EU Defence Integration"
A new report from the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that "The estimated bill for the EU having incorporated defence into its treaties is currently running at around €932 million per annum (£777 million), in addition to direct national military expenditure. That equates to around £80 million a year from UK taxpayers. The inclusion of defence procurement directly into the EU treaties prefigures increased subsidies, especially support for ‘grand projects’ and failing major defence companies in the future. "
Furthermore the TaxPayers' Alliance’s report has stressed that "Given that there are now 7,141 flagged EU personnel deployed on 13 missions overseas, 3,212 in khaki, a de facto EU standing army already exists. British participation in the European Defence Agency is a threat to national identity and defence capability. Conservative policy to withdraw from the EDA is correspondingly the right one." Read the report here.
