It's interesting, because I was posted to NATO from 1981 to 1985, and they were already talking about the European stand-up force and all of that. Unfortunately, it has been much more a paper exercise than anything else. That's why I called the European Union a political dwarf, which was how we labelled Germany in the past. Now it's extended to the whole of the European Union.
It's very unfortunate, because, as we said, NATO has been debilitated of its capacity, and at the same time the EU has absolutely not picked up the role it should. Look, for instance, at the weakness of the EU's support for French efforts in the Sahara, where just recently it took the Secretary-General of the United Nations going to central Africa to try to bolster, in the face of the crisis, the international community's role in supporting what the French have done single-handedly. There are still a few powers in Europe that are prepared to make an effort, but unfortunately they have a very hard time getting their colleagues to chime in.
I'm sorry to say it, but the EU is not a major player on the military side, on the defence side. However, it has a major role on the political side, although I don't think it has come up to what we would be expecting in terms of leadership.