The French return to NATO's military command structure: Anything beyond great expectations?

Résumé du document

The official announcement of France's return to NATO's military command structure triggered a many-fold debate on both the futures of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Would France's leanings towards NATO enable the European Union (EU) to exert a collective influence within the Atlantic Alliance?
Would this increased influence within NATO's framework in turn prompt the emergence of a strengthened European defense within the Union's framework ?

More than a year after the French Parliament voted the French integration to NATO's military command structure , the fact that France's decision did not meet the expectations it then aroused is even more disappointing that it seemed to intervene at a suitable time bearing enough symbolic potential to relaunch a sagging ESDP.

We will expose how despite its relative failure, the French project contributed to pave the way for an improved EU/NATO relation while providing useful guidelines for both CSDP and NATO's future.

Extraits

[...] In short, the French proposition suggested discarding EU's unavoidable reliance ether on national or NATO's military planners[8]. Because increasing EU's capacity for planning operations would have amount to further improving the Union's ability to combine the work of civilian and military personnel in places (such as Afghanistan and Kosovo), British Eurosceptics would thus have had a harder time accusing the EU of replicating NATO's strictly military role[9]. Aside from suggesting the creation of a European planning capacity and pointing out the significant lack of deployable soldiers and sophisticated military equipment, France was hoping to launch a vast movement of defense budgets' reform towards more sharing of the costs of developing, buying and using military equipment. [...]

[...] Fondation pour l'Innovation Politique Bozo, Frédéric, “France and NATO under Sarkozy: End of the French Exception?”, Fondation pour l'Innovation Politique, Working Paper, March 2008, retrieved 20 November 2010, http://www.fondapol.org/fileadmin/uploads/pdf/documents/DT_Alliance_atlantiq ue_la_fin_de_lexception_francaise_ENG.pdf The New York Times Erlanger Steven & Bennhold, Katrin Defense Policy, France Turns to U.S. and Europe” June 2008, the New York Times, retrieved 18 November 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/world/europe/17france.html?_r=1. Royal United Services Institute Cameron, Alastair & Maulny, Jean-Pierre, ““France's NATO reintegration, Fresh Views with the Sarkozy Presidency?”, Royal United Services Institute, Occasional Paper, February 2009, http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/France_NATO_PAPER.pdf. Der Spiegel Michel, Leo, “Getting to Oui, France's Return to NATO Can Complement EU Security”, Der Spiegel December 2008, retrieved 18 November, http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,559304,00.html. T. Valasek, “France, NATO and European defence”, Centre for European reform, Policy Brief F. [...]

[...] What is more, EU has a number of civilian capabilities that NATO lacks and which are needed in the stabilization and reconstruction phases of peace operations” [17]. In short, because it could give the CSDP the opportunity to bring to bear capabilities that NATO does not have and is unlikely ever to have, and because closer cooperation and coordination between NATO and the EU is essential for effective crisis management, encouraging NATO and CSDP to complement each other by fostering their partnership could be a win-win. [...]

[...] Nicolas Sarkozy faces domestic opposition to his decision to return France to NATO's integrated military command in April”, the Economist February 2009, retrieved 18 November 2010, http://www.economist.com/node/13109550. “Heading in the same direction? America wants Europe to offer more than words of support for the new battle against the Taliban”, the Economist April 2009, retrieved 18 November 2010, http://www.economist.com/node/13415736. The European Union Institute for Security Studies Hamilton, Daniel S., revitalized NATO in a new Atlantic partnership”, The European Union Institute for Security Studies, April 2009, retrieved 18 November 2010, http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/newletter_29.pdf. [...]

[...] de Vasconcelos, “Europe's The European Foreign and Security Policy Institute. revived US-EU framework is needed, anchored by a new clause of mutual assistance and new partnerships must be built through the UN and other mechanisms”. D. Hamilton, revitalized NATO in a new Atlantic partnership”, The European Foreign and Security Policy Institute. A.Toje, EU, NTO and European defense, a slow train coming”, The European Union Institute for Security Studies, Occasional paper no December 2008. Á. de Vasconcelos, “Europe's The European Foreign and Security Policy Institute. [...]