The Dutch and Italians may have no great reputation for their military prowess in the modern era but they are keen sellers of the machinery of war. The French head the list of EU arms exporters, some way ahead of the UK and Germany. Arms sales were not an issue in Nice, except indirectly. Subfusc, the debate about an EU rapid reaction force is about arms manufacturing. All of which raises an obvious question.
Arms sales prompt moral anxiety.
Robin Cook and co have backed away from that phrase but the Blairites still claim to have adopted a new kind of foreign policy. No sooner was the new human rights note struck than ministers were having to explain why contracts to supply military equipment to Indonesia had to be honoured. The problem is not that governments license the export of arms. Here are classic instances of failure to join up policy. In its dealings with the EU, human rights have figured, true, but only marginally.