European strategic sovereignty is more necessary than ever

We thought we were rid of it. We had lost sight of the fact that war is not an old trick buried forever in the vault of the past.

In fact, for the last 70 years we thought we were living without enemies or borders. Worse still, the war in Yugoslavia, as harsh and violent as it was, was considered by most Europeans as a parenthesis at the gates of our Community.
I saw and experienced the disasters of that war and the tragedy of Sarajevo, but even these horrors did not really shake European public opinion.

So, since 1945, we had become the spoiled children of peace. We were floating in an era of eternal insensitivity… until February 24, when tragedy returned to our continent.

At the time of this sinister anniversary, it is not a question of undertaking a Girardian analysis to explain the mimetic rage of men which pushes them to desire and to hate the individual or the country next door. This is not the time for deciphering, but it forces us to go beyond ourselves. It is clear that this Russian invasion of Ukraine is probably the most powerful lever in terms of unity and integration. Zelensky, in the face of the unspeakable, was able to awaken an exceptional national unity and to anchor himself even more firmly in European values.

From this conflict, through fear, our European solidarity has been strengthened in the face of the invader. War is the continuation of politics by other means,” said Carl Von Clausewitz. Today, I believe we can add to the words of the military theorist “and vice versa”.

In fact, is not politics the continuation of war? I think so. Let us therefore follow in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers who, after the war, thought about Europe.
Let us have the courage to think about the Europe of tomorrow with this same software. The time has come to overcome the emotional mechanism and to reconcile the idea of Europe with that of power. Power to which Ukraine and other countries dream of being linked. But we must be realistic: to welcome them properly, we must revise our treaties, which were designed in the last century for a Europe of 6, not for a Europe of 27, 30 or 35 countries.

This conflict forces us to undertake a profound revision of our political and institutional organization.

The European Union can no longer suffer from the limitations imposed by its institutional structure, its imperfect distribution of competences and its decision-making process, which is unsuited to the construction of a truly political and federal Union. We must overcome the false debate between national and European sovereignty. We must have the will to move forward, united, in giant steps, towards a common defense policy.

European “strategic sovereignty” is more than necessary. Everyone must understand that without a sovereign Europe, with a real capacity for action, we risk losing not only Europe, but also the states. As of February 24, 2022, the European continent has shattered all its certainties and illusions of not repeating the horrors of the 20ᵉ century.

Peace is not perpetual, nor should war be. History invites us to a new constituent moment. Let us listen to it.