Flaws or Wiseness in European Security?

As German Prime-Minister Angela Merkel presents her proposal for a national security doctrine, the rest of Europe, even her very own coalition partners, are rather reluctant. The fear is that the chancellery would come to resemble the White House: where national security overrides and undermines institutions and individual rights.

Simultaneously, the European Union is whipping out its old 2003 collective security doctrine for some revamping. While the EU was said to be created after the Second World War to prevent European states from fighting each other, the idea of collective security was put on the sidelines during the Cold War, in which the United States dominated the security scene. With that historical background, the EU is trying to distinguish itself from the US, which uses its military might as a representation for power status. Instead, the EU is satisfied with providing money to under-poverished nations, providing soldiers to protect refugees, and overseeing elections.

While the EU attempts to set itself apart from the US, the US is pressing Europe to become ‘stronger.’ In light of the lengthening endeavors in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US is in need of a stronger network of nations in Europe to compensate for the reconstruction that is still necessary in those regions.