Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have believed for a long time that the ability of the European Union to defend itself has changed and is changing. That point has been made by Mr. Connelly. Each European Union country must accept some responsibility for its own defence and for the defence of its fellow members and if it does not do that, as time goes by, the European Union will be perceived as being weak. We have only to remember what happened in the Balkans when Milošević was taunting the US and the rest of the free world by saying, "Come and get me, you cannot do anything about it." He was doing so by virtue of the fact that he knew the European Union was manacled, its hands were tied behind its back and it could do nothing for political and historical reasons. He knew all the buttons to press and he did it very effectively and the result was a catastrophe. The European Union can never allow that to happen again. I am sorry for that tirade.