May 14, 2018
The US Should Embrace the EU’s New Defense-Cooperation Plan
In late December, all but three European Union nations agreed to activate the continent’s latest, and perhaps most promising, effort to coordinate their defense investments. This initiative, dubbed PESCO for Permanent Structured Cooperation, has largely been met with bewilderment and concern on this side of the Atlantic. But U.S. officials should welcome it — and press the EU’s leading nations to use its framework to move from project-based collaboration to properly resourced militaries with credible capability.
Thus far, deeper EU defense cooperation has remained more of a dream on paper than reality. These efforts began in earnest at the 1998 St. Malo Summit where French President Jacque Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair signed a declaration recognizingthe EU’s need to “have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so.” The announcement caused alarm in the Clinton administration. During NATO’s 50th anniversary summit, then-Secretary of State Madeline Albright proclaimed that there should be no delinking European defense from NATO, no duplication of existing efforts, and no discrimination against non-EU members.
Read the Full Article at Defense One
More from CNAS
-
Trump's Vision for America and the World
Podcast
On Monday, January 20th, Donald Trump took office as the 47th president of the United States. Now in his second term after a four-year hiatus, his inauguration heralds a new e...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend & Dr. Robert Kagan
-
Trump’s Clash with National Cathedral Bishop
Video
In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, they speak with Jim Townsend, an adjunct senior fellow in the CNAS Transatlantic Security Program, about ...
By Jim Townsend
-
Sharper: Trump's First 100 Days
Commentary
Donald Trump takes office in a complex and volatile global environment. Rising tensions with China, the continued war in Ukraine, and instability in the Middle East all pose s...
By Charles Horn
-
Address NATO at the Munich Security Conference
Commentary
President Trump has an opportunity to address tensions with NATO at the Munich Security Conference.While he should articulate his grievances, he also should lay out his requir...
By Jim Townsend
