Ejércitos Magazine | Focus | European Defense

French troops deploying to Romania as part of the NATO Response Force

PESCO: the last chance

18/04/2024

For the external observer, the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is more equivalent to the long list of projects underway than to the 20 binding commitments, considered at the launch of this policy in 2017, as a before and after. At first glance, these 68 projects do not seem to pursue a single objective. Thus, it is worth asking, is the objective of PESCO clear even for those already initiated? In fact, it's not, and that remains the biggest obstacle to its success. At a time when a (second) strategic review of PESCO is being carried out, profound changes are required if it is to right its course. The objective of PESCO? Council Decision 2017/2315 establishing Permanent Structured Defense Cooperation (PESCO) stated that 'A long-term vision for PESCO could be to reach [Keep reading…]

Image taken from the press release in which the new European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) was announced by the European Commission

The EU's European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS)

19/03/2024

A few days ago the European Commission and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy presented the European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) or, in other words, the new European Defense Industrial Strategy. A very ambitious proposal that aims to mark a before and after not only in terms of the development of productive capacities or the tools at the disposal of the European institutions to relate to the defense industrial sector, but also for its manifest desire to reduce participation American in the European defense market. Despite everything, it is still a proposal that still needs to be negotiated by the States and the European Parliament, which has very little chance of moving forward without changes and which hides some important errors, such as the fact of assessing its possible results only at through quantitative indicators. (Keep going…) [Keep reading…]

The Ukraine crisis has not served to make the European Union a strategic actor. Rather to demonstrate that Europeans still do not know what the exercise of power consists of.

The exercise of power (3)

04/02/2024

A year ago, the magazine “Ejércitos” published an analysis of the geopolitical context of that time under the title “The exercise of power (2)”. It indicated that the invasion of Ukraine was an event that consolidates the end of American hegemony exercised since the end of the Cold War. At the same time, although it may seem contradictory, the war has confirmed Washington's indispensable leadership role as guarantor of Europe's security and has shown its NATO allies that its protection remains linked to the umbrella of the United States. The European Union, despite all its plans and ambitions, would not have managed to achieve strategic prominence. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Houthi helicopter attacking the Galaxy Leader ship in the Red Sea on November 20, 2023

The European Union and the Red Sea: this is geopolitics

24/01/2024

The European Union is preparing to launch a maritime operation aimed at protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Its objective would be to protect civilian ships from attacks by the Yemeni Houthis. A welcome and necessary decision. Furthermore, and contrary to usual, it is not excessively late, since two months have passed since the attacks began. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

The European Union must rediscover geopolitics with all its consequences. Source - Euractiv.

The war over Ukraine and the rediscovery of geopolitics

31/07/2023

The essence of the war problem did not change due to the enormity of its scale. The line of the Central Powers from the North Sea to the Aegean and extending vaguely beyond even to the Suez Canal was, after all, no different from the line of a small army entrenched across an isthmus, with each flank resting on the water. As long as France was treated as an autonomous theater, a complete stalemate existed, and the front of the German invaders could neither be pierced nor diverted. But once the vision was extended to the entire theater of war, and that vast war was conceived as if it were a single battle, turning movements of a more momentous character were open to the Allies. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, [Keep reading…]

The EU-China relationship has changed drastically in recent years, after Brussels has gradually abandoned its initial naivety. Source - Café Evropa.

The evolution of the EU-China relationship

27/07/2023

The EU-China relationship has evolved in recent years, going from a European optimism based on erroneous premises and reinforced by the promise of great business that access to the Asian giant's market represents, to an increasingly pronounced skepticism, accentuated by the dependencies detected during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. With the approval on June 30 of the Conclusions of the European Council on China, a new stage opens, in which Brussels aims to maintain a more balanced relationship, in which dependence is reduced to a minimum, trying to avoid breaking ties. economic as well as falling into a confrontation scenario. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Dutch CV90 combat vehicles. Source - Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands.

Let's recover the spirit of PESCO!

08/06/2023

Five years after the launch of PESCO, and five waves later, it is the ideal time to consider whether the tool that we know in May 2023 corresponds to the one that its designers had in mind. More important than the above is the following question: is it the PESCO we want? (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

The construction of a common foreign and security policy in Europe: Why is it so problematic?

01/06/2023

The European Union has been trying for decades to provide itself with a common foreign and security policy in accordance with its economic and demographic weight. They have been, in most cases and to the misfortune of its almost 450 million inhabitants, a succession of failures, in which at each step the level of ambition was lower. Despite this, progress has been made, especially since the Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which has forced the Twenty-Seven to give new impetus to everything related to Defense. However, there are many factors, some of them very profound, that have so far prevented small steps from culminating in a true common defense. This book aims to identify them, leaving aside the usual "wishful thinking", prevailing among the elites who run Europe from the Brussels bubble, so that, [Keep reading…]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to the European Parliament on February 9, 2023, in which he took the opportunity to continue calling for greater military support for Ukraine. Source - European Parliament.

From buffer state to border state: the EU and military support for Ukraine

08/03/2023

In June 2022, the European Union granted candidate status to Ukraine. An important political declaration that was welcomed as such in kyiv. However, for a country at war, symbols are not enough. Accepting as a candidate for membership a neighboring country that is being invaded must also mean accepting more responsibility for the survival of that neighbor. Ukraine was a buffer state; It has become a border state. The EU should finally present a comprehensive plan to provide long-term military support to Ukraine, gradually taking over the main effort currently being carried out by the United States. After a year of war, the time for partial decisions (a dozen tanks now, another dozen in a month) has passed. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access [Keep reading…]

Europe in crisis

13/02/2023

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has altered Europe's security order, such that many observers describe the situation as a turning point in the existence of the European Union. Brussels' triumphalist rhetoric about the brilliant and solid response to the war cannot hide the fact of the existence of deep divisions and weaknesses that alter the balance of power within the Union and leave us facing a Europe in crisis. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Revista Ejercitos taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.