by David McAllister MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Brussels/Strasbourg The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has marked a fundamental shift in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU). It has put Europe’s peace and security architecture to the toughest test since the end of the…
Andrius Kubilius on the urgency of strengthening European defence Documentation (nc) In a speech in Berlin in November 2024, the then Commissioner-designate for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, gave his views on urgent steps to strengthen European defence. Kubilius warned that EU Member States urgently need to prepare for the possibility of Russian aggression against…
Interview with Julian Pahlke, MdB, Speaker of the Parliamentary Group Alliance 90/The Greens, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin The European: Mr Pahlke, the increase of conflicts worldwide, the abundance of authoritarian regimes, and the acceleration of the climate crisis are just some of the reasons why people are willing to leave their homes and risk their lives…
by Hartmut Bühl, Paris. At the end of November 2024, the hitherto steadfast Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy spoke, for the first time and with a heavy heart, about possible, albeit tem- porary, surrendering of territory to Russia. In an interview with Sky News, Zelenskyy said: “If we want to stop the hot phase of the…
Interview with Roderich Kiesewetter MdB, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, Berlin The European: Mr Kiesewetter, America has voted and Donald Trump will take power on 20 January 2025. It seems clear that this will mean a paradigm shift in transatlantic security policy. Is Europe prepared for it? Roderich Kiesewetter: I’m…
by Gesine Weber, Research fellow, German Marshall Fund of the US, Paris. With the election of Donald J. Trump as 47th president of the United States, Europeans must brace for a period of uncertainty. They have long been aware that their security hinges to a significant degree on voter preferences in US swing states, and…
by Hartmut Bühl, Paris. Shortly before the thousand-day anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a phone call to Moscow. His nice idea was to ask Putin to end the war and call his troops home. While in the western camp criticism and approval of Scholz’s initiative were evenly balanced,…
Dear Readers, The main thematic chapter of this issue deals with the use of space, which has symbolic power like no other field of technology. Space is a global common good and all states are free to explore and use it. Civilian space technologies and services have become essential to our daily lives for communication…
Interview with Chua Jin Kiat, Executive Vice President, International Defence Business, ST Engineering, Singapore With our magazine, we have been following European and international efforts in civil protection and disaster management for years. For this edition, we asked a Singapore-based company about collaboration projects and the company’s contribution to protecting people in south-east Asia and…
by Hartmut Bühl, Paris On 10th April 2024, the European Defence Agency (EDA) took a big step forward in the early detection and reconnaissance of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents. EDA and the five nations (Austria, France, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia) participating in the PESCO project, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Surveillance as Service…