Informes

This Fundación Alternativas report on European defence has been carried out at the proposal of the Foundation itself and has the support of SEGENPOL of the Spanish Ministry of Defence. The main reason this report is being drawn up is the urgent need for an in-depth analysis to assess the current state of the question of the defence of a European Union in a rapidly shifting geopolitical environment. Events such as Brexit or the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in June 2021 clearly pointed to the need for the EU to take its control of its own security and defence very seriously. Today, however, European momentum seems to have slowed and given way to another NATO momentum. The time frame of this paper falls between two important and interconnected milestones: the release of the Strategic Compass in March 2022 and NATO’s New Strategic Concept put out in June 2022. Other recent milestones to highlight at the EU level that have had a positive impact on defence are the conclusions reached at the informal meeting of heads of state and government at Versailles (10 and 11 March 2021), the European Council of 23 and 24 March, Emmanuel Macron’s winning the French presidential elections in April 2021, and the work done during France’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU.

Against this background, this report provides a valuable mass of detailed analysis on the main aspects of the so-called Europe of defence, incorporating the possibility of advancing along the path of ‘strategic autonomy’ in the immediate future as a constant horizon. Many questions arise from this baseline.