ABSTRACT
The process of European integration is the main pillar of stability on the European continent. It holds the potential rivals in the West (France and Germany) together (or apart as one might prefer it), it generates a 'security community' of de-securitization for the rest of Western Europe, pre-empts conflicts in East Central Europe through the power of 'magnetism' and finally has a certain and probably increasing role to play as more direct intervenor further away from the Western core. Yet, the standard models of what a 'security system' is does not allow for this kind of security provision to be a security system. Therefore, one ends up discussing instead either NATO and the WEU as alliances (collective defence) or the same institutions and the OSCE as candidates for collective security.
