Webinar on Zoom
Concerns about the possibility of a Russian kinetic or hybrid attack against one or more European allies, uncertainties about citizens’ willingness to take up arms, and doubts about the timing and nature of support that the US would be willing or able to provide in an Article 5 situation have grown.
Despite the return of full-scale war on the European continent with Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine, Europe still appears to be treating this existential security crisis like a regular bureaucratic undertaking that it can address at its own leisure.
It’s at this critical juncture that CEPS, RUSI, Clingendael and IEP/Bocconi convened a task force with relevant stakeholders to substantiate what politicians often casually refer to as a ‘European pillar of NATO’ – but few can say what this means in practice and whether it would offer a credible deterrent.
The panel will discuss three possible pathways to shore up Europe’s defences: a more European NATO; a new European multilateralism; and EU-led defence cooperation.
Sauli Niinistö is a former President of Finland and the Chair of the Task Force.
Read the Task Force report
