EU - NATO cooperation: EU PUBLICATIONS

The cooperation between the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has deepened significantly in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has reshaped Europe's security environment and highlighted the complementary roles of both organisations. NATO remains the cornerstone of collective defence, backed by United States (US) capabilities, while the EU has emerged as a key actor in financial aid, military assistance and sanctions. Growing uncertainty over US commitments under the second Trump Presidency has reinforced the EU's drive to strengthen strategic autonomy and ensure greater burden-sharing within NATO. The European Parliament supports stronger, complementary EU–NATO ties focused on interoperability, resilience and avoiding duplication, while stressing the need for Europe to take greater responsibility for its own security. At the NATO summit on 24-25 June in The Hague (the Netherlands), key challenges include agreeing on higher defence spending targets, maintaining alliance unity, managing the Russia threat, and rapidly scaling up Europe's defence capabilities.

This study first analyses the existing European security architecture, as it has emerged since World War II. It does so from an organisational perspective, looking at NATO, the OCSE and EU defence policy, as well as from a series of national country perspectives, trying to find underlying motives for national defence policies. After looking at recent policy responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the pivotal years since 2022, five scenarios for a possible future European security architecture are presented and explored. These scenarios look in particular at the level of agency of EU Member States and the EU as a whole, also referred to as EU strategic autonomy, and the relationship between the EU and NATO. They also take into consideration the possible outcome of the war in Ukraine, EU-Russia relations and US foreign and defence policy. The scenarios were tested in interviews with 15 security experts. Conclusive remarks and policy considerations indicate markers for future policy actions.

The Coordinated Annual Review on Defence, or CARD, supports Member States in their efforts to implement collaboratively the EU agreed Capability Development Priorities by providing them an overview and analysis of the EU defence landscape and proposing recommendations for collaborative opportunities in capability development and acquisition. The CARD is a two-year cycle synchronised with the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and with the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP).
See: "23. In parallel, the EU-NATO dialogue must be reinvigorated to ensure that Member States defence efforts converge within both frameworks. By facilitating better information exchange, including classified ones, and deeper cooperation between EDA and NATO, particularly on defence planning and capability development, Member States will be able to better synchronise their investments, avoiding unnecessary duplication between the EU’s and NATO’s respective efforts, thus ensuring that European and transatlantic security are mutually reinforcing. "

Defence planning (including capability development planning) is the process of establishing the military forces
and equipment that a state or alliance determines are required to meet its objectives or to counteract threats. There are three major capability development processes within the European Union: each Member State's national planning; the NATO defence planning process, where applicable; and the EU's planning, which has evolved gradually since the 1999 Helsinki European Council meeting and now consists of numerous components

This note gathers links to recent publications and commentaries from many international think tanks on EU defence issues.

This analysis focuses on developments in European Union (EU) security and defence since the Versailles Summit, held on 10–11 March 2022. It shows how the Union’s response to Russia’s war on Ukraine has unleashed and spurred on a range of operational, industrial and political initiatives that will influence security and defence policy for the years to come. The EU is presently trying to grapple with the growing relevance of deterrence and defence while affirming the importance of projecting stability beyond Europe’s borders. In this study, we argue that the next institutional cycle offers an opportunity to balance those priorities. We advance two sets of recommendations: a) the need to rebalance the focus of EU defence policy instruments such as EDF, PESCO or EPF towards generating the skillsets, technologies and capabilities required for deterrence, and strengthen EU-NATO relations; and b) the need to rethink the EU’s approach to external crisis management and adapt to the requirements of non-permissive political and operational environments.

The EU-NATO Task Force is fully embedded in the existing NATO-EU Structured Dialogue on Resilience and further reinforces it. This report, produced by EU and NATO staffs, complements the 8th annual Progress
Report on the implementation of the common set of proposals submitted jointly by the NATO Secretary General and the High Representative/Vice-President to the two Councils in June. It describes the importance of critical infrastructure, assesses the current security context characterised by a heightened level of risk and explores four key sectors (energy, transport, digital infrastructure and space), as well as cross-sectoral considerations. The report presents concrete recommendations on actions that could contribute to strengthening the resilience
of critical infrastructure, in support of EU Member States and NATO Allies.

Following joint declarations by the EU and NATO in 2016 and 2018, a third joint declaration was signed on 10 January 2023. While some laud the declaration as a manifesto for increased cooperation, others perceive its 14 clauses to be mere symbolism. Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, and Finland and Sweden's push to join NATO, have recently highlighted the importance of strong cooperation between the EU and NATO.

European defence cooperation is about NATO and the EU, but also the EU and its partners; and the array of multilateral and bilateral defence cooperation agreements among EU Member States and beyond. But is this intricate architecture a mishmash of duplications and inefficiencies, or a web of steel providing the foundation for stronger European defence? EU strategic partnerships should reflect the importance of such relationships relative to others. Offering the EU’s closest partners on European security – NATO, the United States, Norway and Canada, but also the United Kingdom and Ukraine – a ‘Strategic Partnership Plus’ format would provide for stronger cooperation with these partners on EU defence policymaking and capability development. EU Member States only have a single set of armed forces, but they also only have a single set of defence officials. Focusing defence cooperation partnerships more on output than processes would go a long way, but the concept of ‘institutional nesting’ could also increase efficiency by embedding regional or issue-specific formats in overarching institutions.

The effective countering of hybrid threats is a common concern for the EU and NATO, including in the Western Balkans. While the EU’s and NATO’s mandates and toolkits differ, their presence and intervention in the region is complementary and rooted in close cooperation. The Western Balkans are increasingly targeted by hybrid attacks, in particular foreign interference and disinformation campaigns. This could exacerbate tensions in a continent already exposed to the destabilising effects of the war in Ukraine. Contrary to other foreign actors seeking to gain leverage in the region, Russia’s role transcends the political and economic sphere and presents the greatest external peril to the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Western Balkans. Going forward, as certain Western Balkan countries are NATO allies and several are candidates for both EU and NATO membership, systematic and structural initiatives to fight hybrid actions are critical not only for European and transatlantic, but also transnational security.

There is no way back for transatlantic politics; in recent years it has suffered severe setbacks that cannot be undone. Although the Biden win promises opportunities for EU-US cooperation, the EU’s drive for strategic autonomy will not stop here. It is high time to look afresh at the very foundations of the transatlantic partnership, in light of not only the politics of today, but also the structural trends in the global balance of power and the lasting institutional ties between the two continents. Above all, the transatlantic future needs a stronger EU. For this to happen, the following issues should be given priority: i) dealing with an increasingly assertive China; ii) gaining more from transatlantic trade relations; iii) safeguarding the benefits of NATO and multilateral institutions like the WTO; iv) battling disinformation and other hybrid threats; and v) reinvigorating cooperation over climate change and global health.

In this Briefing: • Geopolitics across the Atlantic - • History of EU-NATO cooperation - • From neighbours to partners - • From theory to practice - • Way forward for the EU-NATO partnership

This publication analyses NATO-EU interaction between both organisations across the main areas of cooperation
identified in the Joint Declarations. Three key questions are highlighted:
1. What has been achieved vis-à-vis NATO-EU cooperation over the last 2 or 3 years in the context of the implementation of the 2016 Joint Declaration?
2. What are the challenges that hamper full cooperation between the EU and NATO in the domain under review?
3. What is the way forward (to promote NATO-EU cooperation)?