ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the NATO primacy as a political and legal claim and will determine its content, as well as its existence in fact, as exactly as possible. NATO's primacy was inherent in the Western European security architecture during the Cold War, as it was based on the absence of any other security organisation in Western Europe with its own assigned forces. The description of the Headline Goal and its functions lacked any direct reference to NATO primacy. Duplication of their work was something which Europe's security institutions attempted to avoid from an early point, even before the issue of NATO primacy as such arose. Painting ESDP as a subsidiary addition to NATO would, of course, implicitly presuppose NATO primacy. The question of NATO's right of first refusal cannot be answered directly from the founding treaties or other related acts of the EU or NATO.
