JASON FitzHARRIS,
Sir, - The anti-Europeans are against the creation of the European Rapid Reaction Force and against the EU having a defence and security policy because they believe that this will weaken the authority of the United Nations. I wonder if the anti-Europeans have heard of a document called the Charter of the United Nations. Perhaps the anti-Europeans could read chapter VIII of said charter which deals specifically with regional arrangements. A summarised form of the relevant articles is as follows.
Article 52.1: The UN Charter does not prevent the creation of regional institutions for peace and security provided the activities of those institutions are in line with UN principles.
Article 52.2: UN member nations should use the regional institutions to achieve peaceful settlement of local disputes before asking the UN.
Article 52.3: The UN encourages the pacific settlement of local disputes by regional institutions.
Article 53.1: The UN may use, if appropriate and with Security Council authorisation, regional institutions for enforcement action.
Article 54: The Security Council must be kept informed of all activities undertaken by regional institutions for the maintenance of international peace and security.
It appears to me that the United Nations actively encourages multi-national organisations like the EU to get involved in ensuring peace and security in their locality? Perhaps the anti-Europeans could come up with a better and more researched excuse against why the EU shouldn't be involved in promoting peace and security. -Yours, etc.,
JASON FitzHARRIS,
Carlow