Speech Tobias Pflueger, Informationsstelle Militarisierung (Information office Militarization) (IMI), Germany
in Copenhagen 14.12.2002
Tobias Pflueger (19.12.2002)
Here in Copenhagen, the heads of the governments of the European Union were gathered to build up, as they call it, a new European Union.
But this Europe, they are building, this Europe of governments, companies and of armies, is not the Europe we want!
The European governments have agreed on creating a EU rapid reaction force, which should consist of up to 60.000 soldiers in the field.
This rapid reaction force shall ready for use within 60 days. Even the scope of action with 4.000 km round Brussels has been bindingly declared.
The EU rapid reaction forces are no „standing“ troops, but will be each time composed anew out of readily available troop contingents.
After solving the problems between Turkish and Greek government here in Copenhagen, the troop shall be „ready for action“ in the course of next year.
The „core of an operation headquarters of the European Union“ is the „Einsatzführungskommando“ (it is the a central command) in the German military town Potsdam.
The commander of the European troop will be the German General Rainer Schuwirth.
To formulate it clearly: There, a dangerous European rapid reaction force under German command an influence is being built up for military interventions, that means wars in a operating range of 4.000 km around Brussels.
We declare:
– Stop the building of this attack forces!
– This forces are un unnecessary and dangerous!
– Disband this forces immediately!
Noteworthy is the relationship between the new NATO Response Force and the European Reaction Force.
Despite all promise it is the goal of EU-leaders to built up a rapid reaction force, be it with or without the use of NATO equipment.
If military interventions are to be made in which the US-government has no interests or in which the US-government has difficult interests, they want to have the possibility to utilize the EU-unit in the future.
The German governments point of view to not „actively join the bombing“ in the war against Iraq is based on their specific interests which differ from the aims of the US-government in the region. Let’s take for example: Iran
Iran is going to be one of the next targets after Iraq in the ongoing permanent war on the leadership of the US-government, but Germany has close economic ties to Iran.
This competition, though is far away from a direct including a military confrontation between US and European Union.
The interests of the western nations are too closely related: They are all concerned about a military way of defending western prosperity against all others.
To push their economic interests, the western governments resort to nearly all means.
The capitalist globalisation and the global Militarization are two sides of the same medal.
We are against the capitalist way of economy and against the global war policy!
It is necessary to articulate protest and resistance against this Janus-head of military and economic „Superpower European Union“, as Solana it have called.
The Militarization of the European Union is a central project especially for the German government.
The prevention and the stopping of this project is not going to be done by the governments, but only by protest and resistance.
We will organize protest and resistance internationally against the planned war against Iraq.
To conclude:
I will repeat the sentence I have formulated at the European Social Forum in Florence:
– We don’t want a world power USA, we also don’t want a world power European Union and we absolutely don’t want a world power Germany at all!