Together with colleagues from across the political spectrum in the European Parliament, I have signed an open letter calling for a European Defence Union. Our message is clear: Europe’s security can no longer be organised through 27 separate national approaches. If we are serious about protecting Europe, we must finally act together. As threats continue to grow, member states are still too often trapped in national thinking and short-term interests. We can no longer afford this fragmentation.
Why We Need a Defence Union
Europe is spending more on defence today than at any point in recent decades. Yet, we are still using much of this money inefficiently. Instead of planning and procuring together, many member states continue to develop similar systems in parallel, shield their national industries, and block common European solutions. The result is an expensive patchwork instead of genuine European security.
If every country continues to go its own way, costs will keep rising, interoperability will remain weak, and Europe will stay dependent on others. That is exactly why many of us have been pushing for years to finally think about defence on a truly European level.
You can find the open letter here.
What Needs to Happen Now
The solutions are not new – what is missing is the political will to implement them. We need a genuine European single market for defence to increase cooperation and competition. We need more joint procurement to save money while strengthening Europe’s ability to act. We need greater cooperation in developing new technologies, stronger European command structures, and effective democratic oversight of European defence spending by the European Parliament. These are the priorities we are fighting for together as Members of the European Parliament.
Yet, many member states continue to slow progress. They cling to national interests even though one thing has long been clear: in Europe, security can only be built together.
What Comes Next
We will continue working to ensure that Europe finally organises its defence collectively. With programmes such as EDIP, the European Parliament has already pushed important initiatives forward and we will continue advocating for this approach in the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
Read more in Der Spiegel and at Table Media
