History will not wait for Europe’s unanimity – A European Defense Union is about credibility, deterrence and the ability to act
https://timesofmalta.com/article/history-wait-europe-unanimity.1122426
Posted by goldstarflag
History will not wait for Europe’s unanimity – A European Defense Union is about credibility, deterrence and the ability to act
https://timesofmalta.com/article/history-wait-europe-unanimity.1122426
Posted by goldstarflag
22 Comments
Europe’s unity moves slower than history’s deadlines.
We needed removal of unanimity in 2014.
Now we need institutional figures that can act decisively and be help publicly accountable.
So we’ re now 2 steps behind.
*What we are seeing is a system doing exactly what it was designed to do. Unanimity guarantees the lowest common denominator.*
The concept of unanimity is obsolete. We need a more federal Europe. A federation consists of many nations and ethnicities. Like India and China. Local competences must go down to the regions but defense, security and trade policy should become full EU competences.
People just should watch Ukraine war footage, and understand that if they won’t do something faster- their families would be doing the same, as main characters in lead.
The rest of Europe should use the money they send to NATO, to Germany, France, and the UK to provide the defence. They would well together
Europes population: 700 million
US population: 350 million
Yea it’s time for Europe to step up, it’s embarrassing many can’t even get to 2% NATO minimums let alone 5% where it should be.
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While I agree wit the article, Europe is still too fractured to be anything unified much less quickly unified. Add to that that we have staggering generational issues that had been pushed / kicked down the road onto other generations, we are now in the “fuck around and find out” or “time to pay the piper” age.
France has had decades of American Boomer style retirement and funding issues, while Germany kept focusing on their biggest industries for too long instead of diversifying. Same with all other major players such as Spain, Italy, and even Greece.
Add uncontrolled immigration that has allowed a select few cause massive trouble and thus overshadow all immigrants, and we have as many internal problems as we have external problems. In a perfect scenario we should have a unified front against Russia and US – Greenland problems. But while the western nations can send troops to Greenland, Poland and the eastern states must have their eye on the Russian issue more so than Greenland.
Us constantly pointing fingers as “single issue voters” is also not helping. We must accept that there are a myriad of problems that all need to be addressed “somehow and right now”.
We are doing the best we can with the bad hand we were given by our predecessors that we did in fact vote into office.
Look, if Trump tries to seize Greenland (which is not a move that has either popular or establishment support in the US, even in conservative circles, it’s his little pet project) it’s going to happen in the next couple of years. Any successor (even Vance) knows it’s stupid and won’t go ahead with it.
If Europe wants to dissuade him from doing that, it needs to happen in the next weeks to months, way quicker than a European defence union (beyond the existing EU mechanisms) could be achieved even at the quickest pace.
Individual European countries need to deploy assets (naval, aerial, ground) now and keep them on rotation for the next years, plus we need an active intelligence focus on any suspicious US military activity in Greenland itself (Pituffik) and in possible staging grounds.
We cannot defend Greenland against a determined US invasion, but we can make the whole affair so politically costly that even Trump realised it’s not worth it.
VERY good article. Read it guys
Yes, but only without Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia and other such pro-Russian shitholes please!
Honestly, the Greenland invasion is unlikely to happen. There is significant pushback against it. However, as a Russian experiment, it has been a great success. It just showed that Europe is too fragmented to even collectively agree on defending an ally if it doesn’t affect them. Poland is always asking for support, yet as soon as it is another country, they don’t want to send anyone. The same goes for Italy. Putin just proved that if the US leaves, they can probably take the Balkans and fight maybe half of Europe instead of all of it.
haha .. you currently have three “problematic”/traitorous allies in Hungary, Slovakia, and most recently, Poland.
And more probably ready to bend the knee and kiss the ring.
Unless the countries have a common history, language, and culture… good luck
Our main threats are immediate (USA seizing Greenland) to few years away (Russia attacking NATO/EU)
Capacity is a more pressing concern than bureaucracy. We should gear up as much as we can, ASAP, rather than lose ourselves in endless talks about an overarching European milotary structure that would require the same investments to work out, anyways. EU-“NATO” comes afterwards.
Some countries understand this, already, some don’t.
“Small states, including Malta, have the most to lose in a world where power replaces rules. International law and multilateral institutions are not idealistic luxuries for smaller countries. They are protective shields. When those shields weaken, vulnerability grows”
Deeply insightful. Written by a (former?) Maltese MEP. Recommended read
There will never be a united European army. EU member states just have too much pride in their own language, history and national identity. Not to mention, countries like the UK have been downsizing their militaries and support industries in pursuit of net-zero carbon emissions for over two decades now to pay for ever increasing social welfare costs.
Well, the Dutch and German Armies have integrated into one OOB (Order of Battle) already. I’m sure others are welcome to join in.
For example there’s a a dutch tank company (4th Company) within a german tank batallion (Panzerbatallion 414) stationed in Germany that’s part of a dutch brigade (43rd Mechanized) that’s part of a german division (1. Panzerdivision) .
Thats nato sans america and canada
Its simpler: federal government and defense union or dissapear. And we have past the time to decide our future.
“Shared values,” anyone?
I think now would be an EXCELLENT time to begin imagining that all Europeans are actually one people, and that they should therefore have one government.
This would handle the problem of defense AND the Draghi report in one blow, and upend the world in a positive, constructive way. Europe would suddenly have far more influence, and Europeans would therefore suddenly have a lot more status.
I think if France and Germany were to quickly agree on terms and get the ball rolling, they could then invite selected others to join.
Of course the question will become what about the people you all don’t want to consider “real Europeans,” that is, part of the family. What was appropriate for NATO may not be appropriate for your new nation, and that will involve some losses. But economically and militarily there are so many pluses that I sure hope you won’t let those smaller problems get in the way.
The problems is, that there is no uniting factor. Nations hold together either by nationality, ideology, or by outside existential threat.
European as an identity is practically non existent, there is no unifying ideology, and there is no existential thread to whole Europe.
>There is a deeper contradiction at play. Many of the loudest critics of the EU admire the decisiveness of strong leaders elsewhere, their ability to act swiftly and without constraint, while insisting that the EU remain bound by procedures that make action almost impossible. They criticise Europe for being weak yet oppose every reform that would allow it to function.
>What they ultimately want is not change but disappearance.
some good points from the article