Redressing NATO's imbalances

Building a European defence will require a parallel adaptation in NATO's st ructures: to fit them better to the Alliance's new missions; and to make it easier for the Europeans to utilise NATO assets when the US is not part of an operation. The Kosovo War revealed flaws in the current arrangements. P lanning was conducted unilaterally at US-Europe Command (EUCOM) rather than multilaterally at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE). Dominated therefore by the US in its military command function, NA TO is in other ways too micro-managed lay its Council. The tensions and con fusion that flow from these arrangements act to the detriment of the milita ry operations themselves. Effective multilateral political supervision of t he Alliance's military commands should be restored. And commands should be reorganised along functional rather than geographical lines. These changes should bring greater efficiency and flexibility, and also help to give subs tance to ambitions for making the European countries less dependent on the US.