Abstract
The official announcement of France's return to NATO's military command structure triggered a many-fold debate on both the futures of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Would France's leanings towards NATO enable the European Union (EU) to exert a collective influence within the Atlantic Alliance?
Would this increased influence within NATO's framework in turn prompt the emergence of a strengthened European defense within the Union's framework ?
More than a year after the French Parliament voted the French integration to NATO's military command structure , the fact that France's decision did not meet the expectations it then aroused is even more disappointing that it seemed to intervene at a suitable time bearing enough symbolic potential to relaunch a sagging ESDP.
We will expose how despite its relative failure, the French project contributed to pave the way for an improved EU/NATO relation while providing useful guidelines for both CSDP and NATO's future.
