Reorienting Transatlantic Defense
Mini Teaser: NATO is neither obsolete nor a threat to a common European defense force. Rather, it is the centerpiece of Euro-Atlantic foreign policy and a catalyst for European defense reform.
1 See Merry "Therapy's End" (Winter 2003/04) and Hulsman's contribution to "Can NATO Survive Europe", (Spring 2004).
2 Rob de Wijk, "European Military Reform for a Global Partnership", The Washington Quarterly (Winter 2003/04), p. 207.
3 Michel Barnier, Presentation of the Final Report of the Working Group "Defense", European Convention, Brussels, December 20, 2002. Barnier, who chaired the group while serving as commissioner for regional policy and institutional reform, is now foreign minister of France. See also the speech by Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, to the European Parliament, March 26, 2003.
4 The solidarity cause (Article 42) should not be confused with the mutual defense clause (Article 40(7)) of the draft constitution.
5 Colin L. Powell, "Flexible and Unbreakable", Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung, March 31, 2004.
Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-NE) is chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe of the House International Relations Committee and president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. John Lis is senior policy adviser for transatlantic relations for the committee and former director of the Assembly's Defense and Security Committee in Brussels.
Essay Types: Essay