Miliband sets out case for ‘model EU’
The foreign secretary will call on EU leaders to use their collective power to address global conflicts.
Rather than argue for a continental wide super state, David Miliband will set out the case for a “model power” EU.
He will call on the EU to make better use of “hard power”, including the option of intervening militarily outside its borders.
While nation states are increasingly too small to address global conflicts, he will argue the EU could fill a dangerous “power vacuum” in politics.
In a speech in Bruges, Mr Miliband will set out how the EU can become a model global power over the next two decades.
He will call on leaders to use the strength of the single market and “hard power” including sanctions and troops.
The EU should use the “power of Europe as an idea and model – not to substitute for nation states but to do those things to provide security and prosperity for the next generation of Europeans that nations states on their own cannot deliver.”
Mr Miliband will trial the idea of extending the ideas and institutions of the EU beyond its traditional limits, arguing the EU should not be bound by geographical limits or religion.
This could include extending the single market to its “immediate neighbours, and to the Middle East and north Africa,” while membership of the EU should be based on acceptance of its views.
The foreign secretary will say the EU is currently facing a “fork in the road.”
It can: “Focus on internal not external challenges; institutions rather than ideals. Face losing our hard power by not being prepared to intervene. Face losing our soft power by closing off further enlargement and a bolder near neighbourhood policy.
“The result: the return of protectionism; growing energy insecurity, division with the Islamic world; and unmanaged migration to conflict and inequality,” Mr Miliband will say.
He will urge a review of the EU defence capabilities, which would set out the challenges faced and set targets for investment in equipment, research, development and training.
Ministers in Britain are currently concerned the UK is sharing a disproportionate share of the military burden in Afghanistan, leaving its troops overstretched across the Middle East.
Mr Miliband will also set out the case of the EU as an environmental force. He was call for an extension to the EU emissions trading scheme and a ban on carbon emitting cars by 2030.
