stacker, your:
Surely the concept of NATO only exists due to the will of the participating countries who are in it? If all the European nations decided to go their own way whether it was to the benefit of the US or not is of no consequence.
Didn't address both sides of my question:
Will NATO go away in that case? Possibly, but to what benefit to either the European nations or the US?
I also asked what benefit the Europeans would draw from a new organization over the existing NATO.
However, I agree with your summation.
lecrazyfrog: Do you think the EU (so the EU is to be the 'federal' government? All treated equally? I wish you luck with that, but that's not my place to critique further) force will act in a different manner? Have they? What if one member nation doesn't want to use force? Does it then withdraw its toys? Which brings it back to sovereignty, I think.
Regarding NATO, I don't disagree with you. Some of the ways the NATO agreement has been modified/stretched are staggering.