What are the future prospects for security cooperation among EU states? What are the implications for European–American relations? A large body of opinion assumes that European security cooperation is – and will be – more fiction than fact. Europeans have a predilection to talk about greater security cooperation, but little stomach to actually do it. As one pessimist concludes: “This is old continental European-style political grandstanding – full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing.” For many, the French and Dutch rejection of the European constitution signified “an insurrection, a democratic intifada,” which make the idea of meaningful security cooperation seem risible and naïve.

However, there is substantial evidence that this pessimistic view is wrong. Thus far, this book has examined empirical evidence from both the past and the present. Past evidence strongly indicates that structural factors discouraged European states from pursuing widespread security collaboration through the European Community during the Cold War. European states were concerned about balancing the Soviet Union, and most cooperation was therefore transatlantic. Recent evidence suggests that changing structural conditions in the post-Cold War caused a significant rise in intra-European security cooperation in several areas, such as economic sanctions, arms production, and military forces. There has also been an increase in cooperation in numerous other areas not examined in detail in this book.