• Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 02 October 2000

    Last year, the Kosovo air war highlighted the impotence of Europe's armed forces.The Americans provided more than three-quarters of the bombs dropped, and most of the advanced communications equipment.

  • Bulletin article by Klaus Naumann, 01 June 2000

    The European Union's 'Headline Goal', agreed at the Helsinki Summit in December 1999, calls for the creation of a 60,000-strong rapid-reaction force by 2003. Turning that goal into reality is extremely difficult.

  • Working paper by Charles Grant, 05 May 2000

    One of the most constant features of the geopolitical landscape is the special relationship between London and Washington on intelligence matters. One of the most rapidly changing and unpredictable elements of that landscape is the emergence of a European Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

  • Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 03 April 2000

    On each side of the Atlantic a new defence initiative is seen from the other side as unnecessary, confusing and worrying: the Europeans' plan for a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and the Americans' plan for National Missile Defense (NMD).

  • Report by Steven Everts, 07 January 2000

    European Union is, almost by definition, subject to strain and tension. During the Cold War some stability was maintained by the common external threat that bound the NATO allies together under US leadership.

  • Bulletin article by Tim Garden, John Roper, 01 December 1999

    After many years of talking about boosting their defence capabilities but doing very little, the Europeans have made substantial progress in 1999. European governments have begun to develop the defence dimension of their common foreign and security policy.

  • Working paper by Charles Grant, 04 June 1999

    European Union has long talked about building a defence capability, but done very little about it. In the first week of June 1999, however, two events gave a boost to the EU’s military aspirations. At the Cologne summit EU leaders agreed on a scheme that would enable the EU to deploy military force.

  • Bulletin article by François Heisbourg, 01 June 1999

    The countries of the European Union spend on defence around 60 per cent of the US defence budget (approximately $145bn versus $265bn). But Europe does not have anything close to half of US capabilities when it comes to strategic lift, strategic intelligence or command and control.