NATO-EU RELATIONS POST LISBON TREATY

"NATO-EU relations": the purpose is (or should be) to identify ways on how to make this relation more "productive" (on purpose the term “improving” is not used because in that case a multitude of (more or less competent) important actors will underline that the relation is good (enough).

Now that the "Lisbon treaty" has been ratified by all and is, in stages, being implemented also in the field of "Security and Defense" some steps forward need to be identified and, if at all possible, taken.

This is an effort to present in a structured layered way the areas to be looked at from a NATO’s point of view.

At the NAC/IS (North Atlantic Council / International Staff) - MC/IMS (Military Committee / International Military Staff) level:

• Early consultation before formulating and accepting a new mission (information sharing/knowledge creation/Common EU-NATO Strategic overview/cohesion building). With a mutually supporting division of labor attitude
• Revisit and confirm the "Berlin+ arrangement" (eventually with specifications based on experiences).
• Look into the possibility of a "Reverse Berlin+ arrangement" in the mindset of the Comprehensive Approach (Where the EU commits itself in the non- military domains of that CA (together with the Capitals of the non-EU nations and other International Organizations)) (Improved quality of "International Governance, important driver of the Future).
• Link CNAD (Conference of National Armament Directors) to EDA (European Defense Agency) to coordinate capability development processes.

At the ACT (Allied Command Transformation) level:

• Offer the Defense Planning Procedure of the Alliance to the EU (one (and not more than one) procedure for all, input (request) from NATO and EU also for non-NATO EU-nations).
• Offer participation in the Capability Development Studies.
• Offer training of Nations and Command structures (the last before deployment in operations).
• Offer the services of the Lessons Learnt Centre.
• Look into standardization issues (with particular attention to blue force trackers and information exchange) in order to promote interoperability also with non-NATO EU member Nations.
• Look into the relations with industry
• Share NURC (NATO Underwater Research Centre) (Why not seek Common NATO-EU funding and tasking) (The EU seeks to improve and augment its R&D capacity).

At the ACO (Allied Command Operations) level:

• Revisit and confirm the "Berlin+ arrangement" taking into account past experiences.

Of course, as far as "Security and Defense" is concerned, the "Lisbon Treaty" asks to address more than the relations with NATO (the "Permanent Structured Cooperation", the "Capability for the Projection of Forces", the "Preservation of a European Defense Industry", the "European Defense Agency",...) and a great number of bilateral and multilateral initiatives born out of practical necessities are creating a bottom up push indicative of what the future holds (to be related to the idea of "niche capacities" for smaller Nations).

Willy Herteleer 2009.12.21