by Leonid Bershidsky The European Commission extended its series of reflection papers on the future of Europe with a paper on offering scenarios for closer defense cooperation. "The Transatlantic relationship is evolving. The onus of improving European security lies first of all in European hands," says the document, signed by two Commission Vice Presidents, Federica Mogherini and Jyrki Katainen.
This statement echoes German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent comments about the need for Europeans to take their destiny into their own hands, and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's words last year that "Europe can no longer afford to piggy-back on the military might of others."
Defense self-sufficiency is easier to discuss than to achieve. The European Union, including the UK, spends less than half on defense than the US. One way to close the gap is for the 21 countries within the EU that are also NATO members to increase military spending to 2 percent of economic output, something that Trump demands as a condition of further US protection. The Commission offers an alternative: Better coordination of defense spending and establishing a single market for the military industry, which would foster competition and eventually lead to a more manageable arsenal (currently, EU armies use 178 weapon systems compared with 30 in the US).
An alternative to NATO is also necessary because the alliance is no longer a comfortable framework for northern European countries, whose relations with a key NATO member, Turkey, have cooled in recent months. On Wednesday, Germany announced it would be moving its 260 personnel and its reconnaissance planes to Jordan from Turkey's Incirlik airbase, where they've been stationed to conduct reconnaissance flights over Syria. The Turkish government wouldn't let German parliament members visit the troops at Incirlik because of numerous political disagreements with Germany, so Merkel's cabinet retaliated. It has also led several European countries in rejecting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's invitation to hold the next NATO summit in Istanbul.