Senior Executive Seminar explores future of NATO, EU expansion
April, 2007
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — The future of NATO and European Union expansion has drawn more than 60 senior decision makers from 32 nations here to attend an April 18 – 25 Marshall Center Senior Executive Seminar.
Center Director Dr. John P. Rose discusses the Senior Executive Seminar with the more than 60 participants from more than 30 countries.
Photo by Karlheinz Wedhorn
The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies holds two such seminars each year to give senior government officials, military officers, diplomats, and parliamentarians a chance to delve into current issues and hear speakers from government and international organizations as well as academic institutions. The theme of this year’s first seminar is a core issue for NATO allies, EU members and aspirant countries: what are the boundaries of NATO and EU expansion? Participants will address four main areas:
• the principal reasons for enlargement;
• the benefits and disadvantages of enlargement;
• changes in rationales for enlargement of each alliance; and
• the prospects for future NATO and EU enlargement.
Participants will also examine lessons learned from the earlier accessions to NATO and the EU and analyze similarities and differences in the enlargement processes to better understand the organizations’ dynamics and how the evolving security environment will affect them. Marshall Center Director Dr. John P. Rose challenged participants to look at recent history and current operations as they consider the future of NATO and the EU.
“It’s fascinating to observe how NATO has transformed over the last 10 years. How many times in our lives have we heard senior political and military leaders say NATO is dead? And each time we see NATO emerge even stronger and more determined,” Rose said.
“Look at Afghanistan. How many times have you heard that NATO will either succeed or fail based on what’s occurred with the NATO mission in Afghanistan? How do you want that to evolve? And how will you help shape that in your own professional lives?”
Predicting and shaping that evolutionary process might seem daunting, but it is what brought the participants together, Rose said.
“I continue to be fascinated as I look at both the European Union and NATO, to try to think through what those organizations might look like in 2020. And even though it can be a challenge to bring NATO nations together to address issues, what’s fascinating is that it seems that the nations that are a part of that alliance seem to find a way to evolve and address these issues.
“I’m not going to answer those questions, but I do hope that these are some of the issues and some of the questions that will be debated over your time here.”
