EU – NATO Relations

One focus for the Program on Transatlantic Relations is to undertake an assessment of NATO-EU relations and the prospects for future cooperation. This project includes a trip by a small delegation of U.S. defense experts and former military officials to Europe for intense discussions with NATO and EU officials. The delegation’s conclusions and recommendations will be published as an Atlantic Council policy paper. The report will have three objectives.

First, it will provide an assessment of NATO-EU interaction, outlining the obstacles to cooperation as well as the success stories. This will be aimed particularly at building a more comprehensive understanding of European Union developments among members of the U.S. defense policy community. Second, the report will include recommendations for all parties aimed at making the EU- NATO relationship more cooperative over the coming years. It will particularly try to identify both specific obstacles that hinder cooperation, and areas in which greater collaboration might usefully be developed. Finally, the report will look beyond the tactical level to the strategic decisions that may need to be taken on both sides of the Atlantic to make the NATO-EU relationship work effectively.