The drive for a common currency in the EU the so-called euro is also being used as an excuse to keep the Eastern Europeans out. A new Iron Curtain has descended upon the middle of Europe, dividing Western capitalist countries from their poor ex-communist cousins in the East, writes Lionel Barber in International Economy magazine. Whether by accident or design, the EU finds itself retreating behind a Fortress Europe, restricting the flow of people, goods, services, and capital between East and West. Economic prosperity is the sine qua non of national security. They see membership in both organizations as crucial to their long-term economic and military security.
Economic prosperity is the sine qua non of national security.
By taking the pressure off the Western Europeans to do the right thing, NATO expansion defeats its own goals. Moreover, even from a narrow military perspective, NATO membership probably is not necessary for Eastern European countries once they become EU members. As my Hoover Institution colleague Henry S. Rowen points out, it is hardly likely that a member of the EU would be attacked militarily without other EU members coming to its aid. In the post Cold War world, NATO has lost its unique purpose other than to serve as a mechanism for America paying Europe s defense bills. Full membership in the EU would be both necessary and sufficient for Czech, Hungarian, and Polish economic and military stability.