What is the relationship of European Union to NATO?

Sharing strategic interests and facing the same challenges, NATO and the European Union (EU) cooperate on issues of common interest and are working side by side in crisis management, capability development and political consultations, as well as providing support to their common partners in the east and south.

How is the EU governed?

The EU is governed by the principle of representative democracy, with citizens directly represented at EU level in the European Parliament and Member States represented in the European Council and the Council of the EU.

How is the EU different from NATO?

Unlike NATO, the EU pursues a foreign policy in its own right – based on consensus, and member states have equipped it with tools in the field of defence and crisis management; the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) structure. Several EU member states were formerly members of the Warsaw Pact.

How does EU conduct its foreign and Defence policy?

The EU has no standing army, so relies on ad hoc forces contributed by EU countries. The EU can send missions to the world’s trouble spots; to monitor and preserve law and order, participate in peacekeeping efforts or provide humanitarian aid to affected populations.

Would an EU army compete with NATO?

Some member states worry that an EU army would compete with NATO structures. With 22 of 28 EU states also being NATO members, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has urged Europeans to avoid duplicating NATO – money invested in an EU army would be money lost for the alliance.

Will a common European army increase the EU’s global standing?

In March 2015, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker advocated a common European army as a means to increase the EU’s standing on the world stage, not least in the eyes of Russia.

Is the EU over-reach in defence?

It has become a symbol of EU over-reach in one of the most sensitive areas of national sovereignty – defence. Today, it is still easy for British eurosceptics to raise the spectre of an EU army, because they are helped by proponents of the idea in Europe.

Why aren’t the European Union’s military operations being used?

In practice, they have never been used. Differing national military strategies and threat assessments deter EU members from volunteering soldiers for operations. An unattractive system of cost distribution, which places the brunt of an operation’s financial burden on the deploying country, does not help.