European defence, strategic autonomy and NATO

Summary:

The European Commission's President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on 16 February that she would soon put forward a strategy for the European defence industry, designed to strengthen military production and arms supply. Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine two years ago reignited the EU’s push towards strengthening its defence capabilities and cooperation. The European Parliament and President von der Leyen, among others, believe that the EU should strive towards establishing a fully fledged ‘European Defence Union’, following on from a number of ground breaking initiatives and significant growth in military spending. The discussion on the need for the EU to become more self-reliant in defence has intensified in response to comments made by Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 US presidential election, who suggested that the United States might disregard NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause and not protect from a potential Russian invasion those NATO allies who are not spending enough on defence. This note gathers links to recent publications and commentaries from many international think tanks on EU defence issues. Earlier analyses of Russia’s war on Ukraine can be found in a previous edition of the ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’ series.

This briefing is part of the What Think Tanks are Thinking series.

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