THE world of military spending tends to be a silent and shady area despite the fact that it consumes 2% of the world’s wealth, rising to 4% in poorer countries like Greece and Chad.

IRISH officials are holding bilateral meetings over the weekend with representatives from other EU member states to iron out any difficulties over the Lisbon Treaty guarantees.

THE Millward Brown IMS poll on the Lisbon Treaty is being misconstrued by some commentators.

A landmark European peacekeeping mission had to be funded by a whip-round of staff and a loan from a British ambassador’s entertainment budget, a damning report on Europe’s joint defence efforts revealed today.

ONE of the key findings of the recent European Commission survey among those who voted no to the Lisbon Treaty was a concern to safeguard Irish neutrality.

IS it a sinister political Da Vinci Code designed to undermine our freedoms or a worthy but dull attempt to modernise the EU?

MUCH of what is said by yes vote campaigners is, at best, indirectly related to the substance of the Lisbon Treaty.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was today challenged to name a date for his country’s referendum on the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty.

A Green party Councillor has become the party's first elected official to publicly urge members to vote "No" at today's convention on the EU Reform Treaty.

Britain and France clashed today over the budget of the European armaments agency.

European Union defence ministers adopted a plan today to open up their €30bn arms industry to increased cross-border competition – a landmark move designed to cut costs for tight military budgets.

European Union nations are expected agree next week to open up their €30bn armaments market to more cross-border competition.

European defence ministers will seek today to push forward efforts to modernise their forces a day after an influential Washington think-tank warned they must urgently overhaul the military to defend Europe’s interests against terrorists, failed states and regional crises.

THAT old game of will-we-won’t-we resumed in Brussels this week over EU battle groups.