4. Europe: the new transatlantic agenda

Summary

The future of transatlantic relations is dependent
on how the differing interests of the United States and Europe
on three planes—economic, political and military—can
be resolved. European states face the dilemma of deciding how
to secure the United States’ politico-military commitment
and leading role without acquiescing in US domination of and
hegemony in Europe. For the USA, on the other hand, the dilemma
concerns how it can help to consolidate the European Union’s
independent capability to act in the field of security and defence
policy without undermining NATO and its own leading role.

The 1999 Washington NATO summit meeting and the Cologne and Helsinki
EU summit meetings gave a new quality to the transatlantic agenda:
the EU gained recognition in Washington as a partner on defence
matters, although it may take a long time before the EU’s
politico-military dimension is complemented with a defence union.
The OSCE Charter for European Security codified a set of arrangements
for closer cooperation between all security-related international
institutions in Europe.

For regional and global security, the renationalization of security
policies and too-slow progress in shaping a common European security
and defence policy are much greater threats than too-rapid change.

Appendix
4A. Documents on European security

Full text (PDF)

Appendix 4A consists of documents
on European security: the NATO Washington Summit Communiqué,
the Presidency Conclusions of the Cologne European Council, the
Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the OSCE Charter for
European Security and the EU Presidency Conclusions of the Helsinki
European Council.