A EUROPEAN INTEGRATED FORCE FOR AN AMBITIOUS PERMANENT STRUCTURED COOPERATION

BY FRANCESCO GUERZONI, the Policy & Advocacy Officer of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) in the Year 2017.

INTRODUCTION

Until now, European defence has been fragmented, largely inefficient and structurally dependent on foreign superpowers such as the US. In light of the worsening of Europe’s security environment, Brexit and the US shifting its interests away from Europe, the European Union must find a solution to assume a greater role in its own defence. In the short-medium term, that solution is a Permanent Structured Cooperation among willing Member States developing a quickly-deployable and as much as possible strategically-autonomous European Integrated Force at its core. It is by committing and moving together towards a level of ambition that eyes strategic autonomy that an effective and efficient European defence will be possible. Consequently, a PESCO focused on joint “capability development” alone would not add much new to EU’s defence capabilities, since some joint projects are already in place. The real added value can only come from “capability deployment”, through a European Integrated Force formed by integrating national forces currently employed in EU’s missions and operation and the Eurocorps. In full compatibility and coherence with NATO, such a PESCO could be the first substantial step towards the end of duplication, low interoperability and inefficiency of military assets among its participants. The European Integrated Force, which could become the most effective and efficient instrument the EU would have at its disposal to achieve the objectives of the Common Security and Defence Policy. A well-designed European Integrated Force in the medium term would most likely lift many doubts on the feasibility and desirability of deeper defence integration and would constitute the first embryo of a future federal European Army.

This paper aims at showing a possible concept for a Permanent Structured Cooperation designed to provide the CSDP with a European Integrated Force. The first chapter clarifies what concrete objectives such a PESCO should have, the second chapter outlines its structure and legal basis whereas the third chapter shows how PESCO could set up a European Integrated Force, how participating Member States could align their defence cycles and give the EIF a high degree of strategic autonomy. The third chapter also gives some ideas on what relationship could PESCO have with neutral EU Member States and on how it could become the European pillar of NATO.