PARIS, Sept 9: An influential French MP, Guy Teissier, who is chairman of the defence commission of the French National Assembly, demanded on Tuesday that in the future the European Union financially sanction those member nations who choose to acquire military hardware outside of the EU, that is, from the United States, the world’s principal arms supplier.

Mr Teissier was speaking in Arcachon, where he has been presiding over France’s first governmental seminar devoted to the subject on the future of the French and European defence sector, an event also attended by Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and the chairmen of Europe’s leading defence enterprises.