Franco-German Security Accommodation

Introduction

by Johnsen and Young

In and of itself, the establishment of the European Economic Community represented a significant historical achievement. More recently, members of the European Community (EC) have expressed an intent to build a more comprehensive foundation of European unity that looks toward complete economic union. Moreover, these nations seek a European political union that will further expand European integration. Naturally, discussions concerning political union have generated considerable dialogue over closer integration of security and defense policies.

Progress toward these goals initially appeared to be accelerating. The Single Economic Act (signed in July 1987), one of European Commission President Jacques Delors' greatest accomplishments, was implemented in principle on January 1, 1993. At the December 1991 Maastricht summit, the EC heads of government agreed to the "Draft Treaty on Political Union" that laid out the planned European political union. [1]

Nor has cooperation been limited to economic and political issues. At Maastricht, the EC heads of government also agreed to the goal of establishing a common defense policy and the development of the Western European Union (WEU) "...as the defense component of the European Union..." [2]

Moreover, in May 1992 at their summit in La Rochelle, President Mitterrand and Federal Chancellor Kohl formally announced the creation of a joint multinational corps, which, in time, could include other European participants. [3]

To many observers and officials, the combination of these events indicated that the long elusive objective of European integration appeared to be close at hand.

But events have proven otherwise as EC politics have become rather messy, not to mention complicated, of late. [4]

For example, prior to the Danish referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in May 1992, the path toward greater Western European integration appeared clearly set. However, the [5] Danish electorate rejected the Maastricht draft treaty in June.

This rejection, in the words of Daniel Vernet, Foreign Editor of Le Monde, "...has brought into the open in many European countries a situation their governments had been trying to pretend did not exist: a crisis in foreign policy..." [6]

Shortly thereafter, when President Mitterrand placed the Maastricht Treaty before the French electorate, it passed only by the narrowest of margins (50.95 to 49.05 percent). [7]

Even the much vaunted Single Market may well not function in practice (e.g., due to lack of consumer confidence in product quality and efficiency), despite the implementation of all the necessary legal instruments. [8] And, high German interest rates (due to the ever escalating costs of unification) and low British interest rates (to stimulate a lagging economy), combined to force Britain and Italy out of the EC's Exchange Rate Mechanism in September. [9] Finally, the EC's inability to achieve consensus on a means to halt the ongoing war in the former Yugoslavia underscored the difficulties inherent in crafting common security and defense policies.

The obstacles to full implementation of these policies raises the question: Where does European integration, particularly in the realm of security, go from this inauspicious point? This is not merely a rhetorical consideration, nor is the outcome without implications for the United States. Since the 1950s, Western European political stability, consistency in general political outlook, and impressive economic growth have been, in large part, the result of European integration. These conditions have supported U.S. interests in Europe in the past and, undoubtedly, Washington will continue to have a vital stake in the maintenance of stability in Europe. At the same time, confusion over the future course of European integration has had, and will continue to have, a direct impact on U.S. and Western European efforts to reform its integrated defense institutions to meet the new challenges of post-cold war European security.

How the EC will overcome this recent rash of highly publicized setbacks and reinvigorate its efforts to realize the goal of European Union are open to question. However, what one can contemplate with a high degree of certainty is that Paris and Bonn will be at the heart of efforts to resolve these dilemmas. The Paris-Bonn relationship has been the engine that has driven greater European integration since the late 1950s and has provided a proven means to overcome the long history of Franco-German conflict and discord. Yet, the interesting, and exceedingly confusing aspect of this Franco- German accommodation is the fact that the political necessity to maintain the appearance of consensus on their overriding objective of greater integration oftentimes papers over fundamental differences on exactly how European Union is to be achieved. Thus, the perception of agreement, particularly when there is discord, remains a constant element of their bilateral relationship.

This study analyzes the political aspects of this important bilateral relationship, particularly in reference to its implications for defense integration. Given space limitations, the study focuses on the implications of Franco-German relations on bilateral defense cooperation. While acknowledging that political and economic integration are critical to overall European integration, assessing security cooperation is important for three crucial reasons. First, efforts to expand bilateral defense cooperation have long been a convenient vehicle to manifest publicly heightened levels of cooperation during periods of discord in the political and economic sphere. Second, despite the past record of using defense cooperation to maintain momentum in overall European integration, disagreements over the particulars of security policy are currently running high. And, third, the potential emergence of a true European defense identity has become a major point of contention in Washington's attempt to redefine the U.S. role and mission in a post-cold war Europe.

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