European Security and Defence: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Just Yet

Summary:

2022 will be the year of European defence. These were the words of European Council President Charles Michel in October 2021. When he gave his speech at the Charlemagne Prize Award Ceremony in Aachen, no one expected that his statement would materialise in the way it did. Yes, headway was to be expected with the adoption of the Strategic Compass and European countries demonstrating commitment to investing more in defence cooperation. Although there is still a world of difference between ambitions and reality, the degree of progress accomplished in the past twelve months was not foreseen.

Over the course of the year, Europe has moved towards setting bigger strides in the realm of security and defence. Ironically, this progress is the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former Secretary General of NATO, has, already before the Russian invasion, often stated that Europe’s geopolitical holiday is over. Russia’s aggression highlights the truth of this statement as it has brought war back to the European continent for the first time in almost thirty years (that is, since the Balkan wars), thereby permanently affecting the European security architecture. The awareness to take greater responsibility for safeguarding Europe’s security interests had heightened with the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) of 2016, but the war in Ukraine accelerated Europe’s defence efforts. Europe has made substantial progress, but this does not mean that the finish line is in sight. There are still plenty of hurdles on the road to advancing European defence cooperation.

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