Continuously being tested by refugee flows and terrorist attacks, Europe witnesses that tensions have risen to Cold War levels thanks to Russia’s close yet controlled advances. Nevertheless, security issues in Europe lead to “fissures” rather than “union” and togetherness.

Only six months ago, when the aftershocks of BREXIT were still paralysing, the 27 members of the European Council, European Parliament and the European Commission issued a “touching” statement of Rome Declaration, named after their meeting in Rome. This announcement included ample reference to the European Union’s feature of “unity and togetherness.” One of the most critical elements in this statement, which also summarised the perspective of the EU with respect to defence, was as follows:

“… a Union ready to take more responsibilities and to assist in creating a more competitive and integrated defence industry; a Union committed to strengthening its common security and defence, also in cooperation and complementarity with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, taking into account national circumstances and legal commitments…”

Prepared with due concern about not to “frighten NATO”, this declaration made in March was followed by the establishment of the European Defence Fund only three months later. Interested readers may find the details of this initiative in Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Albayrakoğlu’s analysis on the Future of European Defence in our 51th issue.