Karl von Wogau sets out to answer some intriguing questions: Where should EU troops eventually intervene and why, and does Europe actually have the strength to act whenever needed? Von Wogau is rightly sceptical on the last point, and argues that a more concerted European effort in R&D and defence production is needed - although this may still not suffice without more defence spending, or more rational intra-Europe specialization, or both. Since all EU countries also support NATO operations either as allies or partners, improvements in their capacity will improve NATO’s options as well, so the worry about EU-NATO competition is more on political than practical grounds. The real question is whether EU decision-makers will choose different priorities, modalities, and guiding values for their military actions than NATO or the USA would—and what does that say about the schizophrenia of governments that operate happily under both flags?

 

NATO does not have the choice of using “soft” operational instruments; the US has those options but under-uses them. The EU must choose each time - for prevention as well as for corrective interventions - whether to use its military arm alone, in combination with non-military levers, or not at all. Early, surgical force may sometimes be a moral choice in line with the deeply humanitarian principles of the EU’s security strategy. It should never, however, be a choice EU governments make just to show off their power. One false use of “hard” power and the EU’s often-underestimated “soft” power could be badly compromised. Similarly, while the EU strengthens itself as an arms-producing and -using community, it would do well to emphasize its arms control policies in the same breath; von Wogau’s mention of de-mining technology is welcome here.

 

One right beyond dispute is that of defending one’s own territory and population. I share von Wogau’s still somewhat daring thesis that the inward-looking function of defence could before long be seen as part of the EU’s true metier - of course, against a quite different threat assemblage than in the past. Cross-border solidarity in defence has a normative value and it is a value Europe would do well to preserve as NATO turns its attention elsewhere. An EU that integrates its internal security concerns should also produce faster, more united, better-quality decisions on sending its troops abroad.