A European Navy: Can it Complete European Political and Economic Integration?
2012
Tranbarger, III, Paul R
With the euro-crisis of the year 2011 threatening to fracture the European Union, the timing may seem wrong for makers of policy and sailors to imagine a unitary European Navy within a comprehensive European defense policy. But as Europeans explore the limits of economic and financial harmony in the EU and NATO amid financial distress, they may embrace European integration in the defense sector, especially in its maritime dimension. The ongoing global and regional budget crises demand that responsible governments seek cost savings where they can; a unified European security and defense structure certainly would eliminate redundancies and spread the burden of regional defense more evenly among member states. In addition, though, the European Union and NATO could leverage the incremental, but steady progress toward a unified defense structure to bolster the European project at this sensitive moment. If the European Union puts in place the few remaining policy commitments that would create a single European Navy-hardly the stuff of fantasy fiction these days, in light of several recent initiatives-its internal and external unity would be stronger.
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