Home What's New Speeches & Articles Newsletter - Apr 2012 Biography Diary Contact Information Photo Album Parliamentary Highlights Publications Links MEPs' Transparency Visit the Freedom Association website
		EU muddies the pirate-infested waters off Somalia Wednesday, 15th October 2008 NATO has taken the decision to deploy its Standing Naval Maritime Group off the coast of Somalia to protect ships carrying food aid and other merchant vessels plagued by pirates. This year there have already been 71 pirate attacks in the region. Now the EU has also decided that it wants to get involved and has also taken the decision to deploy a naval task force. The catch is, it will draw on the same naval assets as the NATO force and essentially carry out the same task - so not only will there now be a co-ordination requirement, but NATO nations will have to decide to which force they will assign their very limited number of ships. The MEP for the East Midlands, Roger Helmer says; "This is military nonsense and a further waste of resources. The French Presidency has been desperate to run up the EU flag on another military operation during its time in office. The British Government is complicit in offering the services of a Royal Navy ship. Instead, the decision should have been taken to co-ordinate all naval operations under NATO authority. "This will be a repeat of the farce in the Adriatic 16 years ago when both a NATO and WEU fleet were deployed to maintain sanctions against Yugoslavia. They used ships from the same navies, taking turns to operate under different commands for purely political reasons. "The EU regularly turns a crisis into an opportunity to extend its own role. This latest naval operation is another example of unnecessary duplication of effort. Piracy off the Somali coast should be dealt with by one international military organisation and with robust rules of engagement."