Led by the USA, it has expanded aggressively into central and northern
Europe. It has institutionalized its relationships with the countries
of the Balkan through the "Partnership for Peace" and with Russia
through a recently established joint council. The Czech Republic,
Poland, and Hungary - the eternal EU candidates - have full scale
members of NATO for 3 years now.
The EU responded by feebly attempting to counter this worrisome
imbalance of influence with a Common Foreign and Security Policy and a
rapid deployment force. Still, NATO's chances of replacing the EU as
the main continental political alliance are much higher than the EU's
chances of substituting for NATO as the pre-eminent European military
pact. the EU is hobbled by minuscule and decreasing defense spending by
its mostly pacifistic members and by the backwardness of their armed
forces.
That NATO, under America's thumb, and the vaguely anti-American EU are
at cross-purposes emerged during the recent spat over the International
Criminal Court. Countries, such as Romania, were asked to choose
between NATO's position - immunity for American soldiers on
international peacekeeping missions - and the EU's (no such thing).
Finally - and typically - the EU backed down.
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