A COMMON DEFENSE FOR THE COMMON MARKET - Raymond Kosanke - August 1975

Raymond Kosanke

THE $2 BILLION WINNER: American-made F-16 fighter on display at recent Paris Air Show. Jet, built by General Dynamics, won the "arms deal of the century" when NATO partners Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark picked the F- 16 over latest version of the French Mirage for their air forces. Despite continued heavy dependence upon the United States, European members of NATO want to more closely co-ordinate their own defense needs. BRUSSELS: For the first time in Common Market history, defense is being discussed as belonging in a European framework. This new development has come out in the European Community's "Commission Report on European Union," just released. While the study acknowledges that the "Atlantic Alliance is and will continue to play a decisive role in the security of Western Europe" the security of the union "cannot be truly guaranteed if defense matters are purely and simply left on one side [the United States] when the union is being established." - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library