EU-NATO – room for improvement

The European Union has made enormous progress in developing its security and defence policy over the last decade. But throughout that time its relationship with NATO has been through a series of difficulties which many observers believe has undermined its effectiveness.

On a practical level EU and NATO sources say that co-operation is "extremely close", pointing to the successful peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the recently agreed police mission in Afghanistan and the planned mission in Kosovo. This will only go ahead when there is a United Nations Security Council resolution on Kosovo’s status, but, if it takes place, it will be the EU’s most ambitious challenge yet, with arguably the greatest potential for failure if simmering ethnic tensions erupt into violence.

In Bosnia, the EU took over the military mission from NATO under the so-called Berlin Plus agreement which gives the EU "assured access" to the alliance’s assets including use of NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, southern Belgium. The mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was also done under Berlin Plus. The Union has also carried out a number of so-called autonomous missions in Africa, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

EU sources claim that the success of European security and defence policy in recent years has been "developing a niche capability in policing, justice and the rule of law", ie, helping to building up functioning states after military interventions. Failing properly to plan for this aspect of post-conflict crisis management can have fatal consequences, as the situation in Iraq illustrates.

What seems to be emerging is that the EU and NATO have developed a natural division of labour, with the Union focusing on the civilian side of peacekeeping operations and NATO dealing with combat situations.

But on a purely institutional level EU-NATO relations are poor. As Turkey does not recognise Cyprus, it refuses to allow Nicosia to see NATO documents. Malta does not have a security agreement with NATO and so is also excluded from some meetings. The two countries are therefore prevented from taking part in Berlin Plus operations.

There have been joint EU-NATO meetings including one in March this year, but officials say they have little value, partly because they are unwieldy with ambassadors from the 27 EU member states and the 26 members of the military alliance. In addition, Turkey defines the scope of areas from which Cyprus and Malta are excluded widely, limiting the range of issues the two can formally discuss together. EU sources say, however, that informal contacts are much better.

Tomas Valasek, a security and defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform, says that the EU-NATO relationship is in very bad shape, not least because France has for a long period blocked any moves towards closer co-operation. Valasek says that the Turkey-Cyprus dispute has merely been a "smokescreen" for both the European and Atlanticist camps within NATO and the EU to hide behind. "We have a truce. Both sides have decided to act pragmatically," he says.

Valasek, a former director at the Slovak ministry of defence, says that the idea of neat divisions between civilian and military missions is a "fantasy". Security operations in post-conflict situations take place in a "muddy, ugly world", Valasek points out. "One moment you’re shooting the bad guys and the next you’re delivering aid."

The analyst says that the EU and NATO should "stop arguing over who does what" as both sides need to do both civilian and military missions. Second, he says that there should be a single approach to "certification" (checking that forces are available and suitable) of the EU’s battle groups and NATO’s response force. He cites Kosovo as one concrete example where the EU and NATO should already have started planning operations.

Some sources are waiting to see if French President Nicolas Sarkozy might usher in a change in EU-NATO relations. While previous French president Jacques Chirac was steadfastly opposed to improving relations with NATO or expanding its role, Sarkozy’s pragmatic approach to politics and his more open attitude to the US might make closer co-operation with NATO a possibility.

In the meantime, all sides agree that the challenges of the tasks the EU and NATO are taking on in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo mean that practical co-ordination has to be as effective as possible.

As one EU official put it: "The big lesson of crisis management is the difficulty to align civilian and military operations. The big challenge is not to compete but to co-operate together."

The European Union has made enormous progress in developing its security and defence policy over the last decade. But throughout that time its relationship with NATO has been through a series of difficulties which many observers believe has undermined its effectiveness.