NATO-EU Cooperation: Milestones and challenges ahead

Abstract

In June 1996, NATO member nations attending the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in session of Foreign Affairs Ministers agreed that the Western European Union (WEU) would oversee the creation of the European Security Defense Identity (ESDI) within NATO structures. When the role of the WEU was incorporated in the EU a new approach was taken for cooperation with the Declaration on a European Security and Defense Policy (ESPD) that defined NATO-EU relations as a strategic partnership. On 16 December 2002, the “Berlin Plus” arrangements were signed and they strengthened cooperation between the two organizations, allowing EU led operations to make use of NATO assets and capabilities. They also provided a formal framework for NATO-EU joint missions. To date, the EU has conducted two operations with support of NATO. The first one was called EUFOR Concordia in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and was finished in 2003. Since 2004, the second operation under the Berlin Plus arrangements is EUFOR Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Althea has the aim to implement the military aspects of the Dayton Peace Agreement and to maintain a safe and secure environment. As a result of political barriers the cooperation within Berlin Plus arrangements was suspended. Nevertheless, the informal cooperation between NATO and the EU since then has been constructive and beneficial. The 8th of July of 2016, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO signed in Warsaw a Joint Declaration, first of its kind, that marks the importance of furthering strengthening of the EU-NATO cooperation. Common set of proposals on the implementation of the Joint were established on December 6th 2016 and on December 5th 2017. Three progress reports on the implementation of the two common set of proposals has been published, the latest the 8th of July 2018. In this report it is stated: “The two organizations continue to face common security challenges: this only reinforces the need for further strengthening cooperation.” Further cooperation will be advantageous for both organizations and as the Secretary General of NATO mentioned in his lecture in the CESEDEN (Defense College, Madrid) on the 25th of January 2018, “it has the potential to be a win-win for the EU, for NATO and for the transatlantic relationship. But to realize this potential, we need coherence between NATO and EU efforts on capability development. Nations should not be presented with conflicting requirements and priorities… We cannot have two sets of forces, one for NATO and one for the EU”.