DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Harmonizing European Defense Efforts
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 6, 2012: The European Union is trying to bring the defense programs of its 27 member nations into synchronicity before the budget boom is lowered on military spending. This harmonization has been a goal for several years, but now it has assumed greater urgency in a time of both greater limitations and more diverse missions.
With the United States the world’s undisputed military superpower and NATO the prevailing defense alliance, the European Union (EU) is striving to develop a military force among member nations that is both effective and efficient. It has participated in several multinational operations, some of which are ongoing. However, the EU force has yet to achieve a satisfactory complementary role with NATO, and the budgetary pressures that are affecting democracies around the world threaten to derail EU efforts to build a distinct military force with its own identity in the global security realm.
So, that force is working to improve its functionality in a time of rising demand and declining resources. Solutions for the two issues may go hand-in-hand as the continent grapples with achieving its long-term goals.
Gen. Håkan Syrén, SWN, is the chairman of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC). He states that solving most of the challenges facing the European Union may require the effective pooling and sharing of defense efforts, which will allow the European Union to attain greater operational effect without increases in spending. This approach would not entail all EU members engaging in the same activity; rather, it would involve clusters of nations cooperating in complementary ways. Areas where this approach would bear fruit quickly include training and exercising, procurement and surveillance, the general points out.
