Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Friday marks the 75th anniversary of the historic signing of the Schuman Declaration just five years after the end of the Second World War. To paraphrase that declaration, it was intended that the pooling of Europe's resources would change the destinies of regions long devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war. Today, 75 years later, the core of that vision has been abandoned. Instead of demilitarising our future, the EU is pushing a hard-line militarist agenda. Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for an €800 billion rearmament fund, putting the military-industrial complex at the core of the EU vision and resurrecting the very industry the Schuman Declaration sought to subdue. More weapons and bombs do not bring peace and security. If they did, the United States and Israel with their vast arsenals would be the most peaceful and safe nations in the world. This €800 billion will achieve nothing but line the pockets of arms manufacturers, only for them to declare in five or ten years that this technology is obsolete and to demand yet more funding. If the EU truly wants global security and lasting peace, it must invest in the well-being of people.

There is no sector more essential to the well-being of Europe than agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, must be recognised as a core pillar of EU security. Strengthening EU-wide food production will ensure resilience. It will reduce our dependence on volatile imports and protect us from a global crisis beyond our control. The CAP budget for 2021 to 2027 is €327 billion. How is it justifiable to spend upwards of €800 billion on EU rearmament while farmers across Europe are struggling? If these billions were put into the agri sector instead, we could transform agriculture and our wider food sector. We would be able to deliver a common agricultural policy far greater than the limits of the current CAP - a CAP that would rejuvenate farming, rural communities and generational renewal. Our farming sector is moving towards a cliff edge. Around 1,400 farmers leave farming each year and the EU's answer to this is to spend billions on arms and to try to push through dangerous and damaging trade deals like the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, and Mercosur. Each member state needs to be working to build a stronger and more resilient EU, rather than an EU that depends on chemical-laden food produce and substandard meat. Our produce and that of other member states is among the highest quality in the world. We should be raising the bar, not lowering it.

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