EU peacekeeping mission funded by staff collection

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.

The document exposes wasteful, piecemeal and sometimes chaotic joint defence tactics, which, it says, threaten the smooth-running of Europe’s plans under the Lisbon Treaty to step up combined defence initiatives and boost the EU’s international role.