NATO AND EUROPEAN DEFENCE

Year 1999, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 0 - 0, 01.03.1999

Stephen J. Gomersall

Abstract

Last autumn the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, initiated a debate on European defence questions. Its aim is to ensure that Europe plays a greater role in contributing to its own security and at the same time to strengthen NATO. Is this a paradox? I believe not. Today Europeans recognise that they need to take greater responsibility for their own security. Their record—as evidenced by Kosovo—is far from perfect. Of course, European nations need to be ready to respond swiftly when our own interests are directly threatened. But we also need to do so when crises—particularly those on the European continent—require humanitarian or rescue efforts, peacekeeping or even more robust crisis management tasks, including peacemaking. For various reasons, NATO will not wish directly to engage in every European crisis. When it does not, the collective response to these ‘Petersberg’ tasks is currently the responsibility of the Western European Union WEU ; the European Union Amsterdam Treaty states that the EU will avail itself of the WEU in order to carry them out.