Hey fellow Europeans,
I’ve been toying around with the idea of a new European military alliance that explicitly does not include the US. Basically a replacenent for NATO. If such an organisation were to exist, how would you define its framework/scope?
Specifically:
- What would you call it? I like EDO (European Defense Organisation)
- Membership: EU-only vs. broader Europe (e.g. UK, Norway, Balkans… Canada?)?
- Command structure: centralized? federated?
- Thoughts on a possible nuclear doctrine?
- Funding through proportional contributions? Or rather a unified defense budget?
- Legal basis: treaty-based like NATO or integrated into EU structures? Both may have their advantages.
I am interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on the topic.
Doesn’t the EU already have a military defense pact built in? Under the Mutual Defense Clause (Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union), all EU members are required to defend each other is directly attacked. The Common Security and Defence Policy guides military cooperation. There are transnational brigades and everything.
We need to do better in that regard but we already have a lot of what you’re proposing. Chuck in an alliance with Canada and we’d have most of NATO’s functionality covered.