Europa braucht eine Armee: Nur kollektive Verteidigung kann den Kontinent schützen

[Excerpt from essay by Max Bergmann, Director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program and the Stuart Center in Euro-Atlantic and Northern European Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.]

European leaders are keenly aware of their security dependence but in denial about what must be done. The biggest stumbling block is the belief that defense is a national responsibility rather than a European one. Individual governments across Europe want to retain sovereignty over their militaries and have been reluctant to Europeanize their defense efforts. But this focus on national sovereignty overlooks a deeper reality: European countries are not and have not been sovereign in defense since the end of World War II.

They have relied on the United States, a foreign power, to protect them. Now, with that foreign power abandoning them, the most effective way European states can defend themselves without Washington’s backing is to integrate their defense efforts. They need to do what they would in any other crisis: activate the European Union. It is time for the EU to become Europe’s Pentagon.