This article notes Europe's military decline and worries about a loss of global influence:
Key U.S. allies say they must slash defense spending to rein in budget deficits that are spooking investors. Some experts fret that it's not just manpower and materiel being cut, but Europe's reach and ambition.
The suggestion that Europeans will be forced by tight budgets to create a new, unified, and more effective EU military is a pipe dream. Europe will lose the ability to do more than send out minor punitive missions if anyone overseas offends them. And even that level of force will be risky given the increases in military power in potential targets who might be in need of a "lesson."
Europe's only hope of retaining global clout is to tie their militaries to the American military. Focus on keeping battalions of ground troops, aircraft squadrons, and naval task forces capable of working with American forces.
Ground forces especially should focus on having tactics and communications compatible with American brigades so that single European battalions could be plugged directly into an American brigade. Maybe some brigades could be outfitted, too, to plug into our divisions, but for the most bang for the buck, battalions would increase the tooth-to-tail ratio of low European defense budgets. If Europe could maintain the will to use such forces alongside our troops, they'd extend their period of having a global role a little longer.
For as long as we maintain the will to act globally, Europe could choose to act with us
