ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses whether European states were motivated by a sense of common values or national interest in cooperating with the US in Afghanistan and Iraq. It shows that common values and common interests do coincide when if Eastern Europe faces another Iraq-style Hobson's choice between the US and the European Union (EU). Common values are often cited as a major factor motivating international cooperation. The secretary general of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Lord Robertson, has common or shared values as a continuing theme in his speeches. Therefore, if given a choice between the US or the EU in matters of security, countries would choose the US because of the security it provides through NATO. So common values dictates that these countries would choose the EU over the US. Self-interest and the free-rider argument suggest that countries would choose the US over the EU. The Hungarians had been simply enjoying the benefits of free-ridership.
