by Peter Tamm, Publisher, Hamburg, and Hartmut Bühl, Editor-in-Chief, Paris
This 48th edition marks a new beginning for “The European – Security and Defence Union” magazine!
Starting with this issue, Peter Tamm, owner of Tamm Media Group, Hamburg, via its publishing house, Mittler Report Verlag GmbH, Bonn, takes over the magazine’s ownership from the previous publisher, Hartmut Bühl. Hartmut will continue in his function as Editor-in-Chief of this politically independent
European publication, as he has done since the magazine’s founding in 2008, keeping his international editorial team with him.
We are both looking forward to this new cooperation, the new synergies it creates and the opportunities for the magazine to
be more widely distributed and reach new readers.
At the present time, with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the current geopolitical powerplay, a politically independent magazine like ours, which focuses on European but also international politics, with the ambition to serve as a platform for high-level discussions of the most burning security and defence issues of the day, is of great importance for the whole community.
Under its new publisher, the magazine will of course continue to cover global crises and conflicts and their effects on Europe’s security, analysing how the Union can contribute to peaceful solutions. We will keep a special eye on the antagonism between China and the US, since the Taiwan Strait has become one of the most sensitive geopolitical zones in the world.
Indeed, we have decided to dedicate this 48th edition to geo-
politics in a world in turmoil, where great powers are striving for global or at least regional superiority on land but above all at sea, and where maritime safety and security have become key challenges.
Furthermore, we will continue to highlight topics such as human security and human rights, civil protection and disaster management, and, last but not least, the burning problem of climate change, the challenges of the European green deal and the energy transition – topics that are close to the heart of the younger generation of European citizens, who consider the European Union as an asset in their lives.
The European project has been shaped by seven generations.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the founding
fathers strived to consolidate peace and saw in the reconciliation of nations the way ahead for the continent, symbolised, over three decades later, by Kohl and Mitterrand linking hands in Verdun in 1984.
We will therefore resolutely continue to defend the idea of the European project with its values of freedom and democracy, which today are seriously threatened by extremist and anti-
democratic movements in many EU Member States.
However, we will also continue to monitor EU decision-making processes very closely and point out their inconsistencies and problems in the harmonisation of legislation, as is currently the case in Brussels on migration issues.
Today, as from February 2022, there is once again a war in Europe. For us, it is a political imperative that Europe must be prepared to ensure its security and territorial integrity, even without the US if necessary. However, as long as we are far away from a European strategic autonomy, it remains a fact that European security and defence can only be provided in conjunction with the Atlantic Alliance. We need more Europe and a heightened awareness that we are all in the same boat.
