by Gerhard Arnold, Theologian and Publisher, Middle East correspondent of this magazine, Würzburg A mong experts, it is disputed whether the Iranian leadership is aiming to possess nuclear weapons at the earliest possible opportunity or just lay the groundwork to be able to produce them at short notice. It is also unclear whether Iran is…
by Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Research, Innovation, Culture, Education and Youth,European Commission, Brussels T he provoked war in Ukraine is the most recent signal of the need to defend our democratic values and freedoms. An urgent need that Europe addresses with strong resolve and unity. We prepared swift responses to tackle the humanitarian urgencies and…
by Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin The Russian invasion of Ukraine represents a turning point in European history. The leader of a nuclear power justifies the use of force and attacks a neighbouring democracy by arguing that the national identity of its people is artificial and deserves to be…
On 8th April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen together with the EU High Representative Josep Borrell travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a joint press conference, von der Leyen handed over an envelope containing a questionary on EU accession to the Ukrainian President. Excerpts from von der Leyen’s remarks:…
Putin, Biden and Zelensky will go down in history! Putin as the leader of the Russian forces attacking Ukraine with criminal brutality; Biden as an appeaser from a great power that couldn’t or wouldn’t make it clear to the Russians what the consequences of an attack on Ukraine might be; Zelensky as the President and…
by Sebastian Meyer-Plath, Sales Director, BLÜCHER GmbH, Erkrath R esilience is a term that has been increasingly used in the recent past to describe the capability of a community, organisation, state or society to withstand threats, catastrophes or any other substantial hardship which it may encounter. The major driver of the level of resilience is…
Interview with Alain Coldefy, Admiral (ret),former Major General of the French Armed Forces, Paris The European: Admiral, in your book “Amiral – Le sel et les étoiles” you have succeeded in describing the multifaceted profession of the sailor with all its lessons and dangers. What are the differences between the sailors of yesterday and those…
by Frédéric Mauro, lawyer at the Brussels’ bar and associate researcher at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), Brussels/Paris A draft of the “strategic compass”, the first White paper on European defence, was released to Member States in last December. Astonishingly, the phrase “strategic autonomy” appears only once. And it is only mentioned…
Interview with Sorin Ducaru, Director of theEuropean Union Satellite Centre (SatCen), Torrejón The European: Mr Ducaru, allow us to express our warmest congratulations on the 30th anniversary of your agency! For three decades now the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) in Torrejón has been actively supporting European foreign and security policy and has by now become…
by Gesine Weber, Program Coordinator,German Marshall Fund of the United States, Paris Since 2016, European defence cooperation has made great leaps forward: the EU has launched the European Defence Fund (EDF), started cooperation within the framework of PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation), and the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) now allows EU Member States to…