With Russia’s war raging nearby and the threat that a second Trump administration could pull the US out of NATO, Europe has increased its military spending. At the same time, the EU’s defence programmes and funds have multiplied.
“Following the start of the war two years ago, we all understand that we need to build a stronger security architecture,” Michel said.
“It can only be reliable and possible if we have, on the one hand, much more coordination among the EU member states in terms of capabilities, but also a much more powerful industrial basis,” he said.
His words echoed French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for the EU in the long run to strive for ‘strategic sovereignty’ rather than relying specifically on the US through NATO.
“A few years ago, there were some doubts, and I remember that probably around the European Council table, many had in mind that NATO is the umbrella of security and Europe should be more focused on economic purposes – now we face a new paradigm, and I am pleased to observe that the mindset it is totally different,” Michel said.
If there is considerable reluctance from European leaders to support Ukraine, it’s kind of surprising to me. Have they forgotten who they’re dealing with? Do they remember who and what is on the other side of that “Border land”?
Yeah, in the words of Vlad Vexler (an analyst on YT), what Europe needs is a delibarate Russia strategy.
They all know exactly who they’re dealing with, but some still think it won’t be to bad. It’s not to strange that Poland has spend most of their money on defence (2x nato guideline) and all others on the eastern border at least the guideline, while the rest is slacking… However, still no war economy, while Russia has one for over 2-3 years now.
Poland and others still remember what Russian occupation looks like. It was worse than the Nazis. Western Europeans remember only the allied liberation.