State of the Union: Rachel Ellehuus Responds to Security Architecture Proposals
Comment by Rachel Ellehuus
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
The speech rightly focused on two major challenges facing Europe: improving Europe’s response to hybrid provocations and acquiring strategic enablers.
President Von der Leyen's State of the Union speech rightly focused on two major challenges facing Europe: improving Europe's response to hybrid provocations and acquiring strategic enablers.
The question is whether this means action, or simply more process. Legitimacy does not come from creating a new Europe security strategy, security protocol, or European Security Council. Those elements already exist bilaterally, multilaterally, and via NATO. Rather, it will come from European countries acting quickly and decisively to respond to security threats and to procure those military capabilities most critical to deterrence and defence.
Immediate steps, such as instituting Qualified Majority Voting on foreign policy decisions and initiating a cooperative procurement with partners such as the UK, Ukraine, Norway and Canada, would help signal that resolve.
Rachel Ellehuus, RUSI Director-General
