EU proposes anti-piracy naval force

BRUSSELS, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A European Union proposal to send an anti-pirate naval task force to the Gulf of Aden is "military nonsense," some European Parliament members say.

The MEPs, meeting at an EU hearing on the proposal Wednesday in Brussels, said the idea was "military nonsense," "morally wrong" and has "no international legal basis," the EU Observer reported.

If approved in November, the proposal would assemble the EU's first naval mission, consisting of five or six ships from different countries that would be placed under the command of a British vice-admiral with headquarters in Northwood, England, and would patrol waters off the Somalia coast, the publication said.

But critics said such a task force would duplicate anti-piracy efforts being planned by NATO as well as existing moves by individual countries to safeguard the shipping lanes near the Horn of Africa.

Claude-France Arnould of the EU Council, however, countered that NATO had not actually deployed any ships yet, the EU Observer reported.