ABSTRACT
Small states often have little influence on the outcome of negotiations over security cooperation. They face take-it-or-leave-it situations, so-called ‘integration dilemmas.’ Yet, in European Union (EU) security and defence matters, small states may not always be so powerless, which raises the question as to what extent exerting influence on security policy-making via the EU has become a way for small states to mitigate integration dilemmas. To approach this question, this chapter focuses on security-related reforms in two EU policy areas: defence and border control. In the 2017 launch of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the 2019 reform of European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) traditional state competences were at stake. In both cases, small states sought to exert some influence over final outcomes, especially when they had clear preferences. Coalition building with other member states and EU institutions occurred but did not prove sufficient to alter decision-making significantly. The EU attenuated the dilemma for small states, not by giving them increased influence but by allowing them to better knit EU policies into existing national strategies and narratives, thus facilitating the communication of the reforms to national audiences.
