Will France come back into NATO’s integrated military structures?
PARIS — Echoing debates of the mid-90’s, the issue of France’s comeback into NATO’s integrated military structures (left in 1966) seems to be officially on the table again. We will have to wait for the French White Paper on defence to be issued few months from now to get a clearer picture, but the tone set by President Sarkozy and his entourage is definitely telling.
Whatever the outcome of such a process of rapprochement, it seems clear that Paris will not get back to the military integrated structures if the two following conditions are not clearly met:
substantive progress and achievement on the road to a genuine European defence. The line is that if France stops being a difficult ally within NATO, its European partners may be more willing to move forward when it comes to European security and defence policy (ESDP). The French declared they would reach out to the British again and try to revitalize the so-called “Saint-Malo” spirit (the franco-british Saint-Malo summit in 1998 gave a real push to European defence identity).
the adoption by NATO of a new strategic concept, more in tune with the current international and security landscape. French Defence Minister Hervé Morin made clear that given France’s peculiar situation within NATO, it was more difficult for Paris “to contribute in an efficient way to NATO’s transformation in order to answer the new strategic context. We have less influence on military operations led by NATO on theaters where we are all acting together”.
Next NATO’s summit in Bucarest, Spring 08, could be the appropriate moment for France to explore such a political and strategic move on its part.