NATO-EU Maritime Cooperation: For What Strategic Effect?

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    "Stefano Marcuzzi"
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Other

Carnegie Europe

NATO-EU Maritime Cooperation: For What Strategic Effect?

EU-NATO maritime cooperation in the Mediterranean has by and large been successful at the tactical level. However, operational achievements did not produce strategic effects.

By Stefano Marcuzzi

Published on Jan 14, 2019

Source: NATO Defense College

EU-NATO maritime cooperation is essential to a coordinated response to a variety of Mediterranean issues, including terrorist threats, the protracted conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the refugee emergency. The EU’s Operation EUNAVFOR Med Sophia is deployed in the Southern-Central Mediterranean, whilst NATO’s Operation Sea Guardian operates in the whole Mediterranean basin. NATO also launched a new activity in the Aegean in 2016. Although each operation has its own mandate, their coordination was defined as crucial in the 2016 Joint Declaration on EU-NATO cooperation.

At a tactical level, these operations have by and large been successful in enhancing situational awareness in the Mediterranean; monitoring migration networks; constraining the activity of human and arms smugglers on the high seas; and to a degree in providing assistance to migrants. However, they also face strategic challenges, including the failure to dismantle the smugglers’ networks, their relatively low deterrent effect, and a limited degree of inter-institutional cooperation.

Read the full Article

This article was originally appeared in the NATO Defense College Policy Brief series.

Photo: Jake Tupman; NATO via Flickr

About the Author

Stefano Marcuzzi

Former Visiting researcher, Carnegie Europe

Marcuzzi was a visiting researcher at Carnegie Europe, where he focused on EU-NATO cooperation, in particular on the Mediterranean and Libya.

Recent Work

Commentary
Libya Needs European Boots on the Ground
- Stefano Marcuzzi

EU Security Migration Europe North America United States Western Europe Iran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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