Toward a Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region

Abstract

The Black Sea region is increasingly important to Europe and the United States as a major east-west energy supply bridge and as a barrier against many transnational threats. The security environment in the region is a product of diverse interests of littoral states and their neighbors. Some of these interests coincide with those of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, while others reflect a unique regional security agenda. As the continent's principal security organization, NATO must address that regional agenda if it is to succeed in its goal of building bridges to the region and erecting secure barriers to threats emanating from it. While the European Union (EU) is not considering expansion across the Black Sea, it, too, cannot ignore the security situation in the region. This environment warrants a Euro-Atlantic strategy to bolster institutions and activities initiated by Black Sea littoral states as a means to temper regional suspicion and rivalries inimical to stability and broader mutual interests. This strategy should ensure local ownership by littoral states and constructively engage Turkey and Russia. NATO governments could engage partners in a Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council/Partnership for Peace (PFP) Working Group consisting of littoral states and others in the greater Black Sea region to identify common security concerns and to develop ideas for practical cooperative activities, including better integration of existing PFP and relevant EU programs. Certain littoral states could be encouraged to take the lead in various initiatives: (1) supporting Turkey's Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group and Black Sea Harmony initiatives and linking them to relevant NATO operations in the eastern Mediterranean; (2) encouraging regional cooperation in airspace reconnaissance; (3) supporting counterdrug, counter-crime, and counterterrorism cooperation; and (4) deepening civilian-military emergency planning cooperation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA447288

Entities

People

  • Eugene B. Rumer
  • Jeffrey Simon

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Black Sea
  • Central Asia
  • Central Europe
  • Coast Guard
  • Disasters
  • European Union
  • Governments
  • Information Exchange
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Organizations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Terrorism
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Space