What Are the Security Implications of the Expansion of the European Union to Include the Visegrad Nations
Abstract
The Visegrad nations of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary became associate members of the European Union in 1991. Some or all may achieve full membership by 2000. Membership of the European Union will carry with it a security guarantee, whether explicit or implicit. This monograph assesses the security implications of such a guarantee. The monograph first examines the nature of the guarantee. It then analyzes the security implications of giving such a guarantee within two broad areas of concern: those associated with the internal stability and ethnic disputes of the Visegrad nations, and those linked with Russia. In assessing Russian capability two scenarios are developed. The first assumes that Belarussia and the Ukraine remain independent. The second that they are reintegrated in the Russian Federation. Western military capability is then correlated with Russian, focusing on the problems of ground force deployment and force structure posed by a requirement to deploy into Eastern Europe. Areas of capability which will need to be improved if the Visegrad nations are to be successfully included within a collective defense system are identified, and recommendations made as to how this might be done.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 12, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA284710
Entities
People
- W. R. Rollo
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College