Abstract:

As the challenges in Europe's neighbourhood are multiplying, so its American ally's commitment is declining. Europe therefore has to decide which responsibilities it wants to assume as a security provider outside its borders, and translate that into capability targets that allow for it to act autonomously when necessary. The EU is best placed to express that ambition, through the European Council, and to detail its capability implications for expeditionary operations, which NATO can then integrate in overall capability targets for Europeans, including their collective defence obligations. The European Defence Agency is best placed to be the “architect” of cooperation to develop and acquire these priority capabilities together. Bringing these capabilities up to standard through manoeuvres is best done through the NATO command structure, of which Europe will avail itself in most scenarios demanding large scale, high intensity military intervention. Coordination, cooperation and eventually integration: those are the keys to building an affordable and coherent set of European forces.