Yahoo Finance Syria strikes should have been carried out by an EU army, says Verhofstadt
Military action against the Syrian regime should have been carried out by an EU army rather than the forces of the UK and France, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator has said.
Guy Verhofstadt made the call during a debate in Strasbourg with French President Emmanuel Macron three days after strikes on chemical weapons facilities in Syria.
Forces from the UK, US and France launched missiles from the air and sea on three facilities they believe were connected to the suspected chemical weapons attack on Douma which killed 75.
Mr Macron defended the action during a three-hour appearance in the European Parliament amid protests from some MEPs who oppose the strikes.
He said: “It has nothing to do with Iraq, it has nothing to do with Libya – for a very simple reason: we haven’t declared war on anyone and we did not intervene declaring war on anyone.
“If you believe in multilateralism, if you believe in the force of law and of what is right then at some point in time you gave to decide that you cannot simply cave in to the cynicism of those who do not support that.”
Mr Verhofstadt gave the “unreserved” support of his liberal group to the strikes.
“We have to say that because a country that uses chemical weapons against its own people is a genocidal and illegitimate regime,” he said. “This is a reality we must face full on.”
But, addressing Mr Macron directly, he added: “I have to say that your speech shows your weakness too because it is France intervening, the United Kingdom that intervenes and shoots missiles – it’s not the European Union.
“Sixty-five years after the [French] National Assembly scuppered the European defence community, there is still no European army.”
Mr Verhofstadt has said previously that he wants to establish a European defence union that will begin work towards an integrated EU armed forces by 2025.
The leader of UK Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall, used his intervention in the debate to thank Mr Macron for France’s involvement in the Syria strikes.
But a group of left-wing MEPs greeted Mr Macron to the chamber with placards reading ‘hands off Syria’.
French MEP Patrick Le Hyaric, vice-president of the Parliament’s United Left group, told Mr Macron: “We have difficulty in understanding your concept of a ‘sovereign Europe’ when you ignored the EU’s decision-making framework and proceeded without a mandate from the UN – with Mr Trump and Ms May as your only allies – to bomb Syria.”
The EU Council yesterday formally backed the action by the UK, France and the US.
“The Council is supportive of all efforts aimed at the prevention of the use of chemical weapons,” a statement agreed by foreign ministers states.
