A European Defence Entity: European Institutions and Defence

Abstract

European defence cooperation of any consequence cannot consist solely of a series of bilateral, trilateral, and even quadrilateral activities, although these (which can include ministerial meetings, developing weapons systems collaboratively and joint troop training) may be of considerable importance. There is a need for activities to be coordinated, for priorities and needs to be indentified in wider fora and for a public image of West European defence cooperation to be developed. Thus some organized multilateral institutions for European defence cooperation must be available and several have emerged over the past 30 years or more. However, just which organizations and bodies should undertake which precise tasks is neither settled nor readily apparent. It is with this broad issue that this chapter is concerned.