With NATO’s Strasbourg-Kehl summit in view, the study group on current affairs CARA has attempted to clear the way ahead and identify the resources needed for a renewal of the Alliance and to adapt it to the new strategic circumstances. From an analysis of the allied countries’ interests, it sketches the outline of a more coherent partnership between Europeans and Americans that would no longer be seen as ‘the strong arm of the West throughout the world’ but a more effective NATO complementary to European Security and Defence Policy.