Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 18 September 2019 - Strasbourg

Presentation by the Council of its position on the draft general budget - 2020 financial year (debate)

  Ben Habib (NI). – Madam President, this continent has a great debt of gratitude to the United States and NATO in particular, and I’ve heard a lot about the budget allocations for 2020 and, indeed, 2021 to 2027. Within those budget allocations, there is a figure of EUR 21 billion to create a new 10 000-strong border force for the European Union. I find this unfathomable at a time when virtually every country in the European Union – with the notable exceptions of the United Kingdom, Greece, and perhaps one or two others – is not meeting their NATO budget commitments. Something has to be done within this institution to make sure that we uphold our NATO contributions ahead of creating an independent fighting force in the European Union, which is, frankly, something we should not be doing anyway.