Europe can't get its defense act together.
As NATO fractures over the war in Libya, another European defense initiative is withering:
Europe's grand defence project, already wounded by divisions over Libya, is stuck in a political no-man's land as Polish ambitions to revive it face indifference among allies.Poland had signalled for months that breathing new life into European Union defence would be a centrepiece of its six-month presidency of the 27-nation EU before it took over from Hungary on July 1.
But in the face of little enthusiasm among partners, most surprisingly France, usually the most ardent backer of EU defence, Warsaw agreed to scale down its programme for more modest goals, a European diplomat said.
Poland had hoped to seize on provisions in the nearly two-year-old Lisbon Treaty that foresee the deepening of military cooperation between EU states, with the ultimate goal of building a common security and defence policy.
The great irony of the current Eurozone fiasco is that at a moment when defense consolidation and coordination would seem to make the most sense (it could save money), it's much less viable.
[Hat tip: NATO Source]
