Europe stands at a crossroads. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, mounting instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and the uncertain future of the transatlantic alliance have laid bare the vulnerabilities in Europe’s defence architecture. At the same time, Europe’s reliance on the United States is increasingly untenable—a reality underscored by fluctuating U.S. commitments under a second Trump Presidency. With security threats escalating and European autonomy at stake, the time for rethinking the European defence architecture has come. We are a group of legal scholars, historians, economists and political scientists, and policymakers. We propose taking the European Defence Community (EDC) as a benchmark to move forward. The EDC is a ground-breaking yet unrealized project of the foundational period of European integration: the EDC treaty was signed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, and Italy in 1952, but ratified by only the first four countries. The EDC envisioned a common European army funded by a shared budget, governed by supranational institutions, and connected to NATO.
Authors: Prof. Federico Fabbrini, Dr. Sylvie Goulard et al.
Full reference: Federico Fabbrini, Sylvie Goulard, Karine Caunes, Catherine de Vries, Davide Genini, Harold James, Antoni Kaminski, Eileen Keller, Niels Kirst, Franz Mayer, Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, Guntram Wolff (2025), « Getting Serious about Defense Integration: the European Defence Community Precedent« , Dublin European Law Institute, Dublin 2025
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