News Release

April 4, 2001

Bush must confront new European security posture, study says
European moves undermine NATO, offer chance to redefine transatlantic relationship

WASHINGTON-The new administration is reconsidering the U.S. role in the Balkans just as the European Union has strengthened its commitment to a European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) coupled with a Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) of 60,000 troops. Will this mean the end of NATO? According to a new study from the Cato Institute, the answer is probably yes-but how the administration handles it could make the difference between an amicable separation and a messy divorce.

In "Death Knell for NATO? The Bush Administration Confronts the European Security and Defense Policy," Christopher Layne, visiting fellow at the Cato Institute and the University of California-Los Angeles, argues that the Bush administration will soon have to confront the contradictions that have long been embedded in the transatlantic relationship and NATO.

"As it did during the Cold War, the United States pays lip service to the idea of European unity while opposing in practice any tangible moves toward an independent Europe," Layne argues. Washington's sniping at the ESDP and the RRF seems puzzling, he says, because the EU's initiatives appear to respond positively to long-standing U.S. complaints that the Europeans are not pulling their weight in providing for the Continent's security. But this paradox appears because the EU's move toward strategic self-sufficiency "is regarded by Washington as a threat to U.S. preponderance in Europe," he says.

Such contradictions are also apparent on the European side, Layne says. "Time and again, European allies have made clear their resentments of America's power and of U.S. dominance over the Continent's affairs. At the same time, they repeatedly have shied away from building up their own power, precisely-and paradoxically-because of their concern that Washington would use greater European contributions to the alliance as a justification for reducing U.S. involvement in Europe," he says.

The Kosovo war jolted Europe into recognizing the reality of its military weakness, Layne notes. But the European reaction-to proceed with the ESDP-presents "a historic opportunity to refashion the relationship between the United States and Europe," Layne says. President Bush, he argues, should return to the vision of Republican internationalists Dwight Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, who saw the emergence of a stable, prosperous and independent Europe as "the vindication of American ideals and as the foundation for a healthy long-term U.S.-European relationship."

"Death Knell for NATO: The Bush Admnistration Confronts the European Security and Defense Policy"