It is near consensual among Europeans that they need to strengthen the ‘European pillar in NATO’. This study traces the evolution of the concept of the European pillar, delineates potential meaning, and spells out what it would take to operationalize it.
Europe’s defence map is being redrawn. Our new Böll EU Brief tracks over 160 defence partnerships signed since 2014 among EU countries, the UK and Ukraine – most of them after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Bilateralism boosts trust, interoperability and procurement speed, but also risks duplication and fragmentation. To turn this patchwork into strategy, the EU and NATO should map and integrate these deals into joint planning, strengthen the European Defence Agency’s role, and use bilaterals to offset declining US support.
The fate of Ukraine’s battlefield will be decided at the US ballot box. This paper explores how the European Union and its Member States could adjust their Ukraine and NATO policies, depending on the outcome of the US election.
Last week NATO announced its plan to deploy troops to six NATO members in Central Europe to strengthen collective defense. Security guarantees for the front-line states have been discussed since Russia’s intervention in Crimea. This publication from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies analyzes the perceptions of governmental and nongovernmental experts in six NATO front-line states.
