Willing and able? EU defence in 2020

Willing and able? EU defence in 2020

Essay
Daniel Keohane, Tomas Valasek
02 June 2008

Demand for military forces is growing. And the Europeans increasingly turn to the EU when in need of troops for peacekeeping or for delivering humanitarian aid. But will the EU be able to keep up with the demand? Daniel Keohane and Tomas Valasek argue that it is possible, but only if the EU governments reform and pool their militaries, and if the EU and NATO co-ordinate their work more effectively. They also warn the Europeans to stop assuming that the EU will never fight a shooting war, and call on the EU to start a debate on when to use hard military force.

Daniel Keohane was a senior research fellow at the CER (2001-2006).

Copyright is held by the Centre for European Reform. You may not copy, reproduce, republish or circulate in any way the content from this publication except for your own personal and non-commercial use. Any other use requires the prior written permission of the Centre for European Reform.