text: New perils, then, but also new promises. The maritime dimension is an opportunity for European allies to go beyond the "EU sandbox" and play a global role at relatively little cost, if only because public opinion will always find a maritime commitment more palatable than a continental one. For many allies like Norway and Greece, a greater maritime commitment on the part of NATO would also be a way to display niche capabilities (it's not as if the U.S. Navy had a surplus of mine-sweepers) that they don't necessarily possess in land operations. Last but not least, for a country like France, a middle-sized power as a land power but a maritime superpower of sorts (the third largest EEZ in the world thanks to its South Pacific possessions), a greater maritime commitment would be a way to maintain a leadership position. When it comes to NATO, to be sure, France, since 1958, has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. With Chirac and Villepin gone, however, it may well be that France will no longer confuse History with histrionics, and volonte de puissance with capacite de nuisance.