Paddy Ashdown on the importance of Europe to our security
Writing in Newsweek magazine on 24th March, in the wake of the Brussels bombings last week, Paddy Ashdown is clear that leaving the European Union would undermine our safety and security. In particular, he stresses how membership of the EU gives us access to organisations and systems such as Europol, Eurojust, the European Arrest Warrant, and the sharing of passenger and travel information under PNR and the Prüm Convention, which facilitate what he describes as "the immensely beneficial anti-terrorist cooperation that takes place under the auspices of the EU". He writes:
"This, more than ever, is the time to stand with our friends in Belgium and across Europe. We must not allow the butchers of ISIS to divide us, and we must give short shrift, too, to those who want to use these attacks to divide our societies. This is no time for division. It is a time to understand why as Europeans we should stand together with our friends in Belgium in their suffering and resist both the racists and extremists of jihad, and the racists and extremists in our midst in their attempts to divide us. Our unity in Europe makes us safer, not weaker. Our solidarity is our best defense. Our pan-European institutions provide us with the means to diminish these threats; they do not, as some foolishly claim, make them worse."