US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said recently that European ‘pacifism’ is a danger to global peace, and part of a trend which constitutes a large political and cultural problem. His remarks came after the Dutch government collapsed following a row between coalition partners about deployments to Afghanistan, resulting in the total withdrawal of Dutch forces (2,000 soldiers) from the NATO mission.
Gates’ statement can ostensibly be seen as a warning to other European countries not to follow suit, but in reality it reflects a general feeling in Washington that Europe is not pulling its weight. The feeling in Brussels is that Europe will decide for itself how much weight it should pull, and in what direction.
During the cold war, the US was happy for Western Europe to remain militarily weak so the White House could dictate policy toward the USSR. Reasoning that as long as America footed the bill for deterring a real or imagined Soviet threat, it could ensure that no NATO member could have an independent policy toward the Soviet Union. This was a largely successful strategy, keeping both sides happy until the end of the cold war.
But as EU integration has accelerated, Western Europe has become inclined to take an independent, if not always divergent, attitude to foreign policy. Differing approaches on Iraq, Russia and Turkey have made it apparent that European and American interests will not always coincide. In theory this is acceptable to the US, but in practice Washington can barely hide its frustration at Western European lack of enthusiasm for fighting an unwinnable war against the Taliban, taking a belligerent line with Moscow, keeping Turkey’s EU application on the long finger and so on.
American power is much weakened since its heyday in the 90s, and Iraq and Afghanistan have exposed how limited even huge military power is. With its economy in tatters, the US would like the wealthy states it imagines itself to have saved during World Wars one and two and the cold war to begin to pull their weight by increasing military commitment to the various and ceaseless conflicts America finds itself embroiled in. Bush’s plan for the US to go it alone failed spectacularly, and Washington now realises that ‘New Europe’ is of little use as an ally.
What Gates and co fail to understand is that Europe has had a totally different experience of war than the US, and does not share the same mindset as their American partners. Even militaristic Europeans know that there is no threat to the EU from Russia or Iran and no appetite among the European public for power projection that would involve deploying large amounts of EU soldiers abroad. There is no messianic desire or ability to ‘spread democracy’ or selectively depose authoritarian governments on this side of the Atlantic.
As the EU moves towards becoming a serious power in its own right, of course it will become more assertive internationally, but that doesn’t mean it need become more aggressive. Europe is secured against external attack as it is, and already spends more on its military than Russia and China combined. If Europe was to increase its spending as Gates has requested, it would have a corresponding increase in influence on the world stage. And that would be unacceptable to the US, as the lead up to the Iraq war showed. America wants allies like Poland and Georgia, ones that will play along with its adventures without asking too many questions or raising too many objections. If the EU ever does end up having a unified military, it won’t be used to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the Pentagon.
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