NATO-EU Strategic Partnership: Where is it Heading?

Abstract

This study examines the security governance between NATO and the EU. Ispecifically focus on whether the EU-NATO strategic partnership has ledto the institutionalization of complementarity between the two institutions.I empirically scrutinize the NATO-EU strategic partnership in the fieldof security governance. Then, I question whether Permanent StructuredCooperation (PESCO) and the European Intervention Initiative (E2I)have marked a drift away from complementarity. PESCO and the E2I havemostly been considered as a challenge to the U.S.-led Atlantic Alliance.On the contrary, I see such initiatives as an enhancer for implementingbetter practices of security governance. In the first part of the study, thesecurity governance approach to NATO-EU inter-institutional relations isexplained. In the second part, the NATO-EU Strategic Partnership andinitiatives for stronger European military capabilities are explored. In thelast part of the study, the durability of the NATO-EU strategic partnership is questioned. I come to the conclusion that despite the different approaches to Euro-Atlantic security among the leading actors, such as theU.S., France and Germany, the NATO-EU Strategic Partnership will likelycontinue with complementarity in security governance between these twoinstitutions.