Europe is confronted with one of the most severe crisis the multilateral system and international law has faced in decades.
With Trump’s administration openly undermining alliances, applying economic pressure, and signalling disregard for European sovereignty — including explicit threats concerning Greenland — the assumption that Europe’s security can be outsourced no longer holds.
With EU Heads of State and Government meeting in Brussels this evening, Europeans expect a response defined by unity, clarity, and resolve.
As the preeminent and longest-standing pro-European organisation, the European Movement has over the past two years made a series of recommendations to enable the EU to meet today’s challenges.
A changing geopolitical reality demands change from Europe.
The world, as we know it, has ended. Today we live in a new strategic, economic, and security paradigm. The EU cannot rely on outdated instruments. We must adapt to this new reality if we are to be able to defend our independence and the territorial integrity of every Member State. We must stop thinking as a community of small and medium sized states and start acting as a big, strong and sovereign Union. That requires radical change, brave decisions and true political leadership.
Unity is power.
The EU has the financial, economic, trade, and regulatory means to defend itself. But unless Member States empower the EU to make use of them, these tools lose their force. Only when the EU acts as one do our actions carry real weight. Speaking with one voice is our strongest strategic asset.
Full integration on security and defence is no longer optional.
Europe must accelerate towards genuine strategic autonomy. To achieve that we need:
– a European Defence Union,
– a European Security Council,
– and the clear political objective of a European Army under EU command.
This is not about replacing NATO — it is about ensuring the EU can act to defend its sovereignty and independence.
We need bold and audacious innovations in EU governance.
Incremental steps are no longer sufficient. To effectively defend our territorial integrity, democracy, prosperity and independence, the EU must be ready to change its governance structures and empower its institutions with the authority to take decisions and execute them with confidence, speed and efficiency, in the interest of our Union as a whole.
Make our Union bigger.
Alongside institutional innovations, we must accelerate the process of including new members, and welcoming back old ones. Whether it’s Ukraine, Norway or the UK, the Western Balkans, Moldova or Iceland, taboos cannot stand in the way of European unity and independence. Only by coming together we can defend ourselves.
This is a defining moment. Europe must take responsibility for its own security, sovereignty, and future.
We have no time to waste.
—————-
A detailed set of proposals can be found in the following recent policy positions:
