The Road Ahead: Military Mobility, PESCO and the Netherlands: A case study on Euro-pean defence Development

Abstract

This research focuses on the development of European defence within the European Union. A chain of events has sparked old debates regarding the role of the European Union in defence and has led to various initiatives in the field, within and beyond the EU to answer to this question.

The Netherlands has put a strong emphasis on military mobility, the issue it deems the most important when it comes to European defence development. The Netherlands has initiated a project within PESCO, the EU platform launched in 2017. This project on military mobility is seen by the Netherlands as the answer to the most important issues as well as a best practice of what European defence for the EU should look like.

The myriad of states and the numerous institutions through which nations work together make analysing European developments a tough ask. However, by taking the national perspective of countries into account and by understanding the complex environment in which everybody has to operate, we have come to see that countries are able to push their short- and long-run expectations and national interests trough these motions, in the hope of sticking to their route towards the future of European defence.