Joining forces?
March 17, 2010
Traditionally and historically, in most spheres, Britain and France have been fierce rivals for centuries.
Necessity, however, is the mother of invention and as the world changes and the state of global security continues to remain in flux, these unlikely partners are considering facing the contemporary demands of asymmetrical warfare and the shadowy threat of terrorism together.
High-level meetings between senior figures in the British and French defense establishments over the past few months have begun to lay the foundations of what could be a new defense alliance between the European Union's two major military powers.
This possible collaboration between the EU's only nuclear powers - and its only members with permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council - is a strong indication that European attitudes toward alliances, joint security and defense spending are being forced to change by external factors.
Budgetary pressures pushing UK, France together
One of the most pressing issues driving this possible defense alliance is the effect that significant budgetary pressures are having on British and French military spending.
Britain and France are the only EU member states who spend more than 2 percent of their national income on defense. But this is unlikely to remain the case for much longer.
Britain has been involved heavily in two major conflicts in that last decade - Iraq and Afghanistan - both of which have gone on for longer than expected. The state of military funding in the UK cannot go on at its current rate and it is expected that whoever wins the general election penciled in for May will slash the defense budget by up to 15 percent over the next six years.
France has been forced into a similar move with the government recently agreeing to a minuscule 1 percent-a-year budget increase for defense between 2012 and 2025.
"France and Britain are being pushed together by a number of challenges, one of them being military budgetary needs," Anthony Seaboyer, a European and Transatlantic security expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Deutsche Welle. "The financial crisis has lead to a clear focus on other issues. Other budgetary needs appear to be far more pressing."
"The lack of comparable terrorist attacks to September 11 over the past nine years shows that either what has been done was effective enough or the threat of international terrorism is simply lower than originally assumed. Both perceptions allow the conclusion to focus spending on other issues. Given these developments, the willingness to save money through cooperation has increased."
The move toward this entente nouvelle is also being driven by the changing relationship between Europe - specifically Britain - and the United States.
Read more on the new Anglo-French alliance
EU powers wake up to post-special relationship world
With many defense analysts suggesting that the US under President Barack Obama is more concerned with turning Washington's security focus toward China, Europe’s perceived weak involvement in Afghanistan could ultimately lead to the removal of the "special" from the "special relationship."
This repositioning by the United States will have the most effect on the UK which will no doubt continue to view the US as its most important strategic partner. But in time, Britain will have to look closer to home for support - which is where France may come in.
Richard Gowan, an EU security and defense expert at the European Center for Foreign Relations, believes that France could find the kind of strategic partnership with Britain that it has so far been denied in the wider structure of the EU.
"French generals and policy-makers have been frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm for really serious military cooperation among other EU members - especially Germany," Gowan told Deutsche Welle.
"The security challenges of today are increasingly difficult to address as single states," Seaboyer said. "However, the EU is a lot slower in getting security and defense cooperation effectively going than some would like. Action is often easier and faster when cooperating with one other very strong partner."
"France and the UK have a lot of similar interests given that they are the only two nuclear weapon powers in the EU," he added. "That gives them significantly different interests in this important field than all other EU members, including Germany."
EU strategic landscape facing upheaval
Discussions in the past over alliances within the EU or a stronger collective EU defense policy have caused some criticism among those who believe such actions could undermine organizations such as NATO and cause friction with the United States. However, Richard Gowan believes that a Franco-British alliance would show the opposite to be true.
"An effective Franco-British alliance could act as the main European 'pillar' of NATO, especially if Germany and other NATO powers grow war-shy after the Afghan experience," he said.
"Over the Atlantic, the US will probably be delighted if the Franco-British cooperation succeeds. The Obama administration favors a stronger Europe, and Nicolas Sarkozy has dropped France's traditional anti-NATO stance. This is good not only for European defense but transatlantic ties too. But other European countries may feel sidelined."
Experts divided over alliance's effect on Franco-German axis
Richard Gowan believes Germany may be the biggest loser in this deal if Britain and France come closer together.
"Germany's failure to become a really 'normal' military power has been a disappointment to advocates of EU defense over the last decade," he said. "With Germany increasingly openly playing the role of Europe's financial arbiter, France and the UK seem set to play a similarly predominant role on security. The European project seems to be breaking off in different strategic directions."
Dr. Hilmar Linnenkamp, an international security expert at the German Institute for Security and International Affairs, disagrees. He believes the effect of an alliance on Germany’s standing in terms of European security and in relations with France and Britain would be negligible.
"Clearly, Britain and France consider each other the only serious players in military capabilities in Europe," Linnenkamp told Deutsche Welle. "But the Germans remain the third and will not give up their close relationship with France."
"Germany continues to work toward multilateral cooperation more than bilateral arrangements. The UK-France focus is mainly on 'strategic' assets like nuclear submarines or aircraft carriers. More down-to-earth capabilities will probably require wider participation. All in all, I do not see Germany being worried about the renovation of French-British cooperation."
Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Rob Mudge