Hey fellow Europeans,
I’ve been toying around with the idea of a new European military alliance that explicitly does not include the US. Basically a replacenent for NATO. If such an organisation were to exist, how would you define its framework/scope?
Specifically:
- What would you call it? I like EDO (European Defense Organisation)
- Membership: EU-only vs. broader Europe (e.g. UK, Norway, Balkans… Canada?)?
- Command structure: centralized? federated?
- Thoughts on a possible nuclear doctrine?
- Funding through proportional contributions? Or rather a unified defense budget?
- Legal basis: treaty-based like NATO or integrated into EU structures? Both may have their advantages.
I am interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on the topic.
The first point is a general issue unrelated to the number of adversiaries, and would also be the case if there was only one with similar capabilities.
The second part is the entire point of a nuclear deterrent. Strategic uncertainty with possible MAD is what you want. If the enemy falsely believes that they can have a limited nuclear exchange with tactical nuclear weapons only, they are much more likely to use their tactical nuclear weapons. And a nuclear deterrent is never going to deterr a conventional attack, that isn’t the point of it.