Written by Clara Marina OŽDonnell, 24 October 2011
Faced with the sustained reluctance of many European governments to improve their armed forces, the United Kingdom and France are becoming increasingly disillusioned with EU defence co-operation. But although EU defence efforts have delivered less than had been hoped, over the last decade they have spurred European countries into becoming somewhat more active in defence. And at a time of significant cutbacks in military spending on both sides of the Atlantic limited improvements are better than none.
Clara Marina OŽDonnell is a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform and a non resident fellow at the Brookings Institution.
24-X-11, CER