However, we must take care not to let the pendulum swing too far. Even if a major war in Europe is now very unlikely, the Gulf War is there to remind us that there are areas of the world in which our countries may one day have to engage in real wars to protect Western interests worth fighting for. Our armed forces, therefore, face a complex set of challenges. They must adapt to new types of missions, without losing their core capabilities for high intensity conflict. Furthermore, they must prepare for various types of conflicts without any clear notions of where these conflicts may occur.
Much flexibility is required.
Flexibility, however, is difficult to achieve when resources are tightly constrained. Thus, for example, Petersberg operations are often protacted, requiring the presence far from home of a large number of troops. Engaged in the field, these troops have less time to train for more demanding tasks. The costs of such operations may also weigh heavily on tight defence budgets. In order to cope with these diverse challenges, we need to maintain our cohesion as allies, in organizations such as WEU or NATO, even if we no longer have a clear enemy.