ABSTRACT
The early post-Cold War US initiative to push North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) towards non-Article 5 out-of-area activities was resisted by France, and the evolution of the Franco-German brigade to the Eurocorps was one manifestation of French attitudes. By the mid-1990s, the conservative French presidency and government seemed to have acknowledged the primacy of NATO in European security and the premier role of the United States. In February 1996 the British Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge, declared that NATO 'remains absolutely pivotal to the security of this country'. Britain supports the US position on the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF), and is eager to 'responsibility share' international security obligations with the United States.
