Military Capabilities of a United Europe

The notion of a defence Union has been played with since the beginning of the European integration. Despite hardships in deepening the integration further from that of the economy, the European Union has taken some significant steps regarding foreign and security policy from the early 1990's to this day. Especially the last months' implications concerning Permanent Structured Cooperation have brought the Union ever so closer to an effective defence union with a common military. However, all of the decision making concerning European Union foreign and security policy is based on the principles of intergovernmentalism and consequently, the effectiveness of a potential European Defence Union has been questioned. The question remains: will the European Union be able to act as a decisive user of hard power, meanwhile internally, its Member States with differing interests are attracted to participate only through soft power?