• Home
  • Papers and Articles

Security and defence as the (unlikely) saviours of the integration project? - October 6 2016

by Simon Duke

The EU desperately needs a compelling narrative to rekindle enthusiasm for European integration within the EU and interest beyond it. Rather surprisingly, given the history of Europe’s post-war integration, the political momentum has been converging on security and defence. The last weeks have seen a flurry of initiatives and proposals. To name but a few: the French and German Foreign Ministers advocate a ‘European Security Compact’; the Italian Foreign and Defence Ministers called for a joint permanent multinational military force following their earlier proposal for a ‘Schengen of defence’; and the EPP is calling for a European Defence Union. Before this, Jean-Claude Juncker famously advocated the formation of an ‘EU army’ and, more recently in his State of the Union address, he announced a European defence fund to ‘turbo boost’ research and innovation, whilst also advocating moving towards common EU military assets. The EU’s Defence Ministers met informally in Bratislava on 26-27 September to discuss implementation of the Global Strategy, with security and defence to the fore, with the aim of developing the ‘strategic autonomy’ of the EU. [...]