Can Joint Intelligence and Bilateral Cooperation Replace European Integration?

Intelligence may be one of defense and security cooperation’s most paradoxical sectors: while they are deeply rooted in the very core of every country’s national interest, it is largely acknowledged that intelligence activities widely rely on sharing and collaboration between nations. This paper compares the current state of cooperation between European countries through the EU’s integrated organizations (like EUROPOL or INTCEN or the EUMS Intelligence Directorate). Analyzing the development of European institutionalization on one side in regard of bilateral cooperations on the other side, the paper offers prospective scenarios regarding cooperation programs vis-à-vis the late and fragile development of a proper EU intelligence capability. Intelligence seems to confirm the need for examining the hypothesis of a horizontal convergence mechanism according to Irondelle’s ‘Europeanization without the EU’ thesis.