European security, NATO and the transatlantic link: Crisis management

Abstract

The dramatic events of 1989/90 have transformed the political landscape globally, especially in Europe. Security institutions have to adapt. There is a strong tendency towards inertia, however. NATO wants to keep its collective defence commitments which have their roots in the Cold War; so does the Western European Union (WEU). But both NATO and WEU have created instruments for crisis management and peacekeeping. I propose that future crisis management missions of NATO and EU (WEU) should be merged and carried out by a new Euro‐Atlantic crisis management organization. This also would create a new transatlantic link in the field of security. The Europeans and Americans would have to share burdens, risks and responsibilities in non‐Article V areas. This new organization would be non‐threatening to Russia. It would also facilitate EU enlargement in the field of security to include non‐members of the EU that are participants in PfP or will become NATO‐members.