In its report on NATO for 2030, published on Tuesday 1 December, the group of experts on NATO advocated improving the content of cooperation between the Alliance and the EU (see EUROPE 12501/20).
In its 67-page document, the expert group considers that, while relations between the two organisations have developed considerably in recent years, the detailed mechanisms for cooperation have not always worked as hoped. According to this document, follow-through on political agreements is lacking, which stalls key initiatives and relegates cooperation to the staff level.
It also notes that the EU’s efforts towards strategic autonomy should be developed in a spirit of NATO cohesion and with the aim of achieving a common vision while fully respecting the basis for cooperation between the two organisations.
“Both organisations have much to gain from strengthened cooperation. Rather than developing new mechanisms to broaden the relationship, concerted effort is needed to build trust and make fuller use of existing arrangements and identified areas of cooperation, with a view to deepening long-term practical cooperation between the two organisations”, the report says.
The group therefore puts forward nine recommendations. It believes the Alliance and the EU should seek to reinvigorate trust and understanding at the highest levels. “[It] would be useful for NATO and EU Heads of State and Government to meet in a special formal session, as agreed, to review the current state of the relationship and examine areas for greater cooperation”, the report says. It also proposes exploring the possibility of having occasional coordinated or parallel strategic communications on common issues and concerns, such as joint statements by the two institutions.
The group also believes that the two organisations should ensure the implementation of existing mechanisms and arrangements and make progress in the 74 areas of common interest where there is agreement.
The Alliance and the EU should also, according to experts, improve their capacity for de-confliction in areas where their competences may overlap, and they should seek to clarify ways in which they can avoid unnecessary duplication and political competition in day-to-day life. The two organisations should also intensify their parallel and coordinated efforts to plan for resilience, pursue a coherent approach and synergies in the field of military mobility and develop a strategic dialogue on artificial intelligence, according to experts.
NATO and the EU should also create an institutionalised link between their personnel.
Finally, according to the group, the Alliance should welcome the EU’s efforts towards a stronger and more capable European defence capability where this strengthens NATO, contributes to fair transatlantic burden-sharing and fully involves non-EU allies.
See the report of the expert group: https://bit.ly/3muYK73 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)