France and the UK might have declined in relative power since 1945, but even today only Japan and Germany among non-P5 states rank ahead of them economically. In any case, France and the UK are still amongst the world’s foremost military powers, with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals after the USA and Russia, [1] and the world’s highest military expenditure after the USA and China with France spending $61 billion and the UK $57 billion in 2010. [2] By contrast, the EU has no significant military to speak of, and is thus unable to project power across the globe. The EU launched a Rapid Reaction Force meant to be 60,000 troops in 2001, but it is still a paper tiger without even this many men and with many capability shortfalls. [3] Given the mission of the UNSC to maintain international peace and security, eligibility for a permanent seat should be based on military power, not just economic or demographic power.  [1] Federation of American Scientists, 2011,   [2] SIPRI, 2011,   [3] Defence Dateline, 2011,