ABSTRACT
In almost every Chancellery in Europe, in most forums of discussion on European security within "informed circles" the present nature, the role and the place of NATO are considered as an intangible given. The present security arrangement linking the two sides of the Atlantic looks as robust as the walls of Jericho before they broke down. Initially, the European project was aimed at definitively putting to an end fratricidal wars that, twice in the last century, have devastated, wounded and weakened Europe. Indeed, the disappearance of the Soviet threat that bound together Western democracies has opened the gates to an international landscape that is disconcerting in many ways. The development of EU's monetary, technological and military capabilities is challenging an Atlantic order based on a covenant established fifty years ago between the United States and European countries when the Soviets posed an existential threat to Western democracies.
