A critical analysis of PESCO’s potential to be an efficient solution to European defence cooperation

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• What is PESCO?
• Historic developments and influences
• Responsibilities and competences of EU Institutions and Member States
• PESCO's objectives
• PESCO projects
• What characterizes an efficient solution to European defence?
• Potential of the PESCO framework to in- or decrease efficiency
• Potential for increase
• Potential for decrease
• State of the cooperation: Is there a trend towards efficiency in the first four waves?
• A culture of non-compliance
• No sense of unity
• Integration of national projects
• Lack of focus on larger projects
• Making the European defence market more competitive
• Strengthening the European defence industry
• Reacting to challenges and increasing the chances of PESCO's success
• Just another alliance? PESCO vs. NATO
• Reliability and dependencies in the EU-NATO-partnership
• How PESCO and NATO complement each other
• Economic preferment: a fault line between the cooperations?
• Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper analyzes the potential of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework to impact European defence positively in terms of efficiency. The paper explores the potential fault lines towards efficiency within the framework and observes developments since PESCO's launch in 2017. It aims to work out how to overcome current problems and ensure PESCO's future success. Furthermore, the paper examines the extent to which a coexistence of PESCO and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is useful.

• Analyzing the potential of PESCO to improve efficiency in European defence
• Identifying potential fault lines towards efficiency in the PESCO framework
• Observing developments in PESCO since its launch and suggesting solutions to current challenges
• Exploring the relationship between PESCO and NATO, including potential fault lines
• Evaluating the overall success of PESCO as a tool for European defence cooperation

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

• Introduction: This chapter introduces PESCO, contextualizes its development within the history of European defence, and outlines the paper's main objectives and structure. It also discusses the challenges facing European defence cooperation and highlights the importance of efficiency in this context.
• What is PESCO?: This chapter provides a detailed overview of PESCO, including its historic developments and influences, the distribution of responsibilities and competences between EU institutions and member states, its objectives, and the projects currently underway under PESCO.
• What characterizes an efficient solution to European defence?: This chapter defines the characteristics of an efficient defence cooperation framework, identifying factors that contribute to or detract from efficiency.
• Potential of the PESCO framework to in- or decrease efficiency: This chapter applies the factors identified in the previous chapter to the PESCO framework, analyzing its potential to increase or decrease efficiency based on its objectives, structure, and implementation.
• State of the cooperation: Is there a trend towards efficiency in the first four waves?: This chapter examines the current state of PESCO after five years and four waves of projects, observing how the factors identified in previous chapters have manifested in practice. It discusses specific challenges and areas for improvement related to efficiency.
• Reacting to challenges and increasing the chances of PESCO's success: This chapter explores potential solutions to the challenges and discrepancies identified in the previous chapter, aiming to increase PESCO's efficiency and ensure its overall success.
• Just another alliance? PESCO vs. NATO: This chapter examines the relationship between PESCO and NATO, considering their respective roles in European defence, potential areas of overlap and complementarity, and potential fault lines between the two organizations.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The main keywords and focus topics of this paper include European defence cooperation, efficiency, Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), EU institutions, member states, military capabilities, duplication of capabilities, projects, challenges, success, and coexistence.