European defence autonomy: Inevitably illusory

Abstract

With recent events in Bosnia and Kosovo providing evidence of an increasing American reluctance to commit ground forces in support of European security, the members of the European Union have understandably begun work on the creation of an autonomous defence capability. Closer European integration and the changing strategic value of the region to the US have created the incentive for a more coherent European approach on defence issues, but the immediate likelihood of genuine EU autonomy is remote, not least because the allies cannot agree on the fundamental parameters of co‐operation. As in earlier episodes when European defence co‐operation was proposed, the United States is reluctant to cede political influence commensurate with its diminished appetite for resolving regional conflicts. Through its possession of unique military assets, America has the ability to stifle European ambitions that Europe should wield greater military influence. Together with internecine European disagreement over defence restructuring, the ambivalent American attitude to a separate EU defence identity threatens to transform the initiative into a palliative for American isolationism.