Although all along the European Union’s existence there have been numerous attempts to debate the subject of an autonomous European defence, which would make the Union less dependent on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in security and defence, so far we cannot talk about a real common European defence. The European defence keeps on being ensured by the Alliance, and the transatlantic link becomes more important than ever after 1990 given the threats from South and East which the Euro-Atlantic community, including the European Union, must face.