The Quest for Relevant Air Power

94 │ French Air Force
Franco-NATO rapprochement was further strengthened when
Jacques Chirac came to office in spring 1995. The new president
aimed at exploiting the ongoing evolutions within NATO to restore
France as a major player within the alliance and to Europeanise
the alliance from within. However, a reintegration of France
into NATO’s military command structure was not conceivable.
The dominance of the United States and the automaticity of the
integrated command structure were considered to be incompatible
with France’s key principles. 71
The most tangible sign of French rapprochement towards
NATO was the increasing participation of French officials in its
councils and committees. In September 1994, France was for the
first time since 1966 represented in an informal meeting of NATO
defence ministers in Seville, Spain. 72 In 1995 French participation
became more formalised. After the French chief of staff had attended
a meeting of NATO’s Military Committee, it was declared
that France would henceforth participate fully in the Military
Committee and that French defence ministers would participate
in the North Atlantic Council meetings on a regular basis. 73
France’s rapprochement towards NATO in the mid-1990s did
not imply acceptance of the US-dominated status quo. It was
French pragmatism that accelerated Franco-NATO rapprochement.
The setting up of an autonomous European defence architecture
remained the overarching goal of French defence policy. 74 Recognising
the dominance and importance of NATO in the medium
term, French decision makers conceded to the necessity of building
a European defence within the alliance to the point where
European strategic autonomy would become a reality. 75
However, French decision makers did not succeed in transforming
NATO’s command structure according to their views in
the mid-1990s. With American preponderance at the highest level
of the NATO command structure—Allied Command Europe and
ACLANT—the French first sought to install a European SACEUR
commanding ACE to shape the alliance in line with the European
Security and Defence Identity, which was embraced by the alliance
during the January 1994 Brussels summit. After this attempt had
failed, French decision makers tried to make adjustments at the
next lower command level. In particular, they pushed for a European
general commanding Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH)