France-U.K. Defense Cooperation and EU Defense

Because of budgetary belt-tightening on both sides of the Channel, it's become increasingly common to hear about the logic and necessity of defense cooperation between France and Britain. The fact that this has moved beyond the realm of wild speculation and is indeed considered imminent by most serious observers is a testament to the sea change that's occurred, primarily in British defense thinking in a very short time. Consider that just last spring, when a U.K. Defense Ministry green paper even suggested the need for greater bilateral cooperation, it made headlines.

Nevertheless, wild speculation has persisted about that cooperation, which is what makes this smart piece from the Economist outlining how and where it is likely to manifest itself useful.

Now, there are two ways of looking at this in terms of assessing the French motivation here. The first is that it represents a very pragmatic and opportunistic way of developing contingency-driven relationships with the British defense establishment, which might reassure the U.K. euroskeptics enough to subsequently draw Britain in to expanded participation in European defense. That strikes me as a very generous view, however.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review