Britain and France should not give up on EU defence co-operation

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.