The EU’s Performance with and within NATO: Assessing Objectives, Outcomes and Organisational Practices

Abstract

This article assesses the EU’s performance as a security actor in the context of NATO, both at the institutional level and when acting as a bloc of member states within NATO. Informed by a definition of ‘performance’ as the ability to achieve preset objectives (effectiveness) in an efficient, relevant and viable manner, we observe that the EU’s performance in the context of NATO remains limited. This could be seen as a reflection of underlying political divergences between the two organisations, hampering systematic and formalised intra-institutional cooperation as well as effective cooperation between the EU member states in NATO. More importantly, it has resulted in the emergence of more informal and ad hoc EU practices in the context of NATO as well as parallel EU and NATO practices.

Key Words:

• NATO
• EU
• ESDP
• performance
• practice
• inter-organisational cooperation

Notes

1. The 21 EU member states in NATO are Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.

2. In contrast, Norway signed such an agreement with the EDA in 2006 (see Utenriksdepartementet 2006-2006).

3. For a list of NATO-EU informal and formal meetings, see NATO (2011a).

4. In France (outside of Paris), Britain (outside of London), Germany (Potsdam), Italy (outside of Rome) and Greece (Larissa).

5. In the Netherlands (Brunssum), Italy (Naples), Portugal (Lisbon), Poland and Britain.

6. It should also be mentioned that NATO commands tend to be seen as a positive contribution to the local community where the headquarter is located. This also goes for NATO’s military bases.

7. http://esdc.mil-edu.be/

8. According to a Norwegian government official. Seminar in Oslo, 19 October 2010.

9. Rasmussen said this after the EU’s Political and Security Committee and NAC met on 25 May 2010 (NATO 2010c). According to a Danish source, Rasmussen’s engagement reflects his aspirations to become EU High Representative for CSDP at a later stage (personal interview, 10 June 2010).

10. The non-EU member states in NATO are the United States, Norway, Canada, Iceland, Turkey, Albania, and Croatia.

11. Some non-EU NATO members also have bilateral agreements about participation in EU crisis management operations and with the European Defence Agency in 2004 and 2006 respectively (see Utenriksdepartementet 2006-2006).

12. The former two signed a bilateral agreement in 2009 with the United States as part of the American plans for a missile defence system in Europe.