The EU as an International Security Institution

摘要

One might wonder why there cannot be a NATO taking care of security and threat management and an EU taking care of trade and trade management. Nevertheless, there is increasing competition between the great powers assuming the form of a global struggle for power and position. The US focus on innovation and technology means that the European NATO member countries and EU are subjected to renewed pressure. The EDF and NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic -or DIANA - are both working with the private sector and academia, to ensure that they can harness the best of new technology for Euro-Transatlantic security. The result is that taxpayers are paying twice for the same service. Whether this is an intelligent way of doing business, only the future will show. The discussion about the wisdom in having an EU as a security institution will continue and the result might well be that EU Member States that are also NATO Allies are hedging their bets in favour of the Alliance's better defined defence mandate, rather than that of the EU, whose ambitions for common security and defence remain largely statements of intent. This should be seen in the context of the current security situation in Europe, and Finland and Sweden's pending accession to NATO.