NATO and EU: A “Strategic Partnership” or a Practice of “Muddling Through”?

Abstract

The relationship between Europe’s two most prominent international organizations, NATO and EU, ¹ is a peculiar one, which on the surface seems to have developed from parallel but separate existences during the Cold War, to intense interinstitutional rivalry during the 1990s, to a “strategic partnership” defined by the EU-NATO Declaration on European Security and Defence Policy in 2002,² but ending as a “frozen conflict”³ following the admission of Cyprus to the EU in 2004. However appearances can be deceptive, and the widespread assessment that “nothing happens” in the NATO-EU relationship may not be an accurate one. Instead, the relationship can be characterized as an increasingly complex myriad of differentiated activity taking place at the three different strategic levels identified in this volume.

We do our utmost to muddle through in daily life. For instance, I have regular meetings with the leaders of the EU institutions, President of the European Council, President of the Commission, the High Representative, and even the President of the European Parliament. And at staff level, we have regular staff-to-staff consultations, and in theatre, it works smoothly. At the very top political level, there may be problems, but I would say in daily life, we get along and we solve the issues in a pragmatic way.

(Interview with Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, DIIS,Copenhagen April 22, 2013)