The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), the EU agency dealing with the analysis of foreign, security and defence policy issues, has recently published an interesting research paper entitled “Envisioning European defence: five futures”.

The paper, to which contributed several authors, assumes that European policy-makers have the power to decide on the future of European defence and need to act urgently if Europe is to be a global security actor in its own right. The authors do not attempt to present the more desirable or likely option but highlight how current decisions will have a major impact on the future. Depending on political choices, 5 possible scenarios are envisioned for this future defence cooperation which could take different shapes in a decade or two from now. The five outlined possibilities are namely “bonsai armies”, “defence clusters”, “peace operations”, a “European NATO” or a “European army”. To read the article, please click here.