How can Europe build a genuine Defence Union without treaty reform? STEVEN BLOCKMANS and KARSTEN MEIJER map three legal pathways – and argue that an intergovernmental agreement is the most solid ground for sustained European defence. verfassungsblog.de/european-def...

Het grote gevaar voor Europa komt van binnenuit, ziet de Italiaanse EU-expert Nathalie Tocci. ‘Er is niets minder patriottisch dan de rechtse patriotten die de imperiale VS omarmen.’ Hoe verder, nu we niet meer kunnen rekenen op het Amerikaanse bondgenootschap? www.groene.nl/artikel/de-a...

"Karol Nawrocki opposes Safe loans, claiming they would give Brussels a say in national security matters" www.ft.com/content/da80...

Ik schreef recent een blog met Arjen Klein over het nieuwe coalitieakkoord en de constitutionele implicaties van Nederlandse en Europese defensie. Hier een samenvatting van de belangrijkste staatsrechtelijke vragen. www.nederlandrechtsstaat.nl/4-defensie-l...

Very interesting session on the future European Security Architecture at CEPS Ideas Lab with @andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu @nathalietocci.bsky.social @stevenblockmans.bsky.social

Highly recommend this FT piece by [email protected] arguing that only a truly integrated European army can solve Europe’s defence problem. Even if one disagrees with the conclusion, the stakes for the EU’s institutional balance are enormous. www.ft.com/content/2445...

“Donald Trump and his second administration are accomplishing what seventy years of French or German diplomacy could not. By treating the EU not as a partner but as a delinquent debtor, the US has inadvertently supplied the one ingredient the European project always lacked: necessity.”

Winds of change, Zeitenwende, etc: Europe has changed. Poll finds clear majorities for increasing defence spending and a European nuclear deterrent. Source ecfr.eu/publication/...

Commissioner Kubilius has dropped one of the most interesting essays on European defence governance in a long time. It asks the right questions. --> andriuskubilius.lt/wp-content/u...

According to a @grandcontinent.bsky.social barometer, support for a common European defence is growing: +6 points in Italy (65 %), + 9 points in Belgium (74 %), +11 points in France (53 %), +12 points in Allemagne (69 %) and more than +15 points in Espagne (73%). legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2025/03/2...

Meer tanks, meer NAVO, meer EU — maar ook: meer grondwettelijke vragen. We doken in de defensieplannen uit de verkiezingsprogramma's en vroegen: 👉 hoe past dit binnen de Grondwet en de rechtsstaat? 🔗 Lees: www.nederlandrechtsstaat.nl/13-defensie-...

📣 Aan de vooravond van de NAVO-top in Den Haag presenteert Charge een routekaart naar Europese defensie in 2035. Het @ceps.eu onder leiding van @stevenblockmans.bsky.social onderzocht de mogelijkheden en kansen voor Europese defensie. Rapport is nu beschikbaar: tinyurl.com/7h7k9xjp

The emperor has no tanks “The scandal is not that European defence budgets have not already doubled. The scandal is that Europe spends so much and gets so little for it — no effective deterrence, few deployable troops, no stockpiles of weapons to supply to Ukraine.” on.ft.com/3Zmzbe2

It's all very well calling the Netherlands "the Italy of the North", but it's in fact pretty unfair to Italy which has a boringly stable government these days.

Interessant en nieuw perspectief op Europeanisering v defensie: nodig als beveiliging van situatie van lidstaten die herbewapenen en te maken hebben met opkomst populisme

Opinion: "The EU needs a new geopolitical compass - In a world of growing disorder, the European project is now about hard power", writes Marc De Vos in the @financialtimes.com h/t @rikefranke.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/913e...

Interesting read on the future of European Defence and a new deal between France, Germany (and Poland). The institutional/constitutional/democratic questions deserve more attention however.

In het Nederlands Dagblad een interview met mij over democratische legitimiteit van de recente Europese defensieplannen. N.a.v. hiervan een korte draadje /1 www.nd.nl/nieuws/buite...

Vorige week interviewde ik schrijver Giuliano Da Empoli over macht, wat het met mensen doet en hoe onze huidige politiek leiders als stamhoofden het hoofd buigen voor de nieuwe tech-elite. ‘Chaos is niet langer het wapen van rebellen, maar van de regenten.’ www.groene.nl/artikel/de-l...

Just watched Steven Smith’s Introduction to Political Philosophy (Yale University) on YouTube for the second time in a decade. Still insightful and enriching, maybe even more in these turbulent days. Cool this is freely available online. Highly recommended. 📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhm5...

💡 In De Tijd houd ik een pleidooi voor meer lef in Europa. Want de bescherming van onze #economie, #defensie en #democratie staat op het spel. 👉 Het volledige interview kan je lezen via www.tijd.be/politiek-eco...

Kan er mss geregeerd worden, oa omdat de binnenlandse en geopolitieke situatie daar om vraagt? www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Like I said yesterday: For Europe, this is a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency moment. The United States, which has guaranteed European security against Russian attack for 80 years, appears to have switched sides under President Donald Trump. wapo.st/4kkRkS9

President Zelensky has called for a European army. As EU leaders meet today to discuss defense, fundamental questions arise: how will member states share power, and how is democratic control ensured? Our blog explores these dilemmas. #EU#EUarmy #EUSummit" verfassungsblog.de/a-european-a...

Okay, I went there. It's time to reconsider a European army. I outline what it could look like. Hint: It doesn't replace Europe's big militaries but serves as a pan-Euro compliment. I sketch out some ideas what it could look like. It is time for some out of box thinking. www.csis.org/analysis/why...

"But what history teaches us is that the best strategy is not to resist the revolutionaries but to hijack their revolution. In doing this, Europe’s success will mostly depend not on its ability to resist but on displaying a talent to surprise." www.ft.com/content/3507...

Interessante column van Samsom, wel twijfels of het zo eenvoudig is om een 70 jaar oud verdrag dat heeft liggen te verstoffen zomaar geactiveerd kan worden #EDG

“And it must be an absolute priority to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we actually achieve independence from the USA.” www.ft.com/content/a87d...

Merz comments last night are by far the most radical we’ve heard from any European (near) leader. They go well beyond French rhetoric of strategic autonomy & a European pillar of NATO. However, there are also those privately contended about disavowing NATO before alternatives are mature.

Als gevolg van de eroderende transatlantische band pleitte president Zelensky deze week voor een Europees leger. Dat roept lastige constitutionele vragen op. In mijn blog leg ik uit met welke dilemma's beleidsmakers zullen moeten omgaan. www.nederlandrechtsstaat.nl/europees-leg...

European leaders should start to create a European army in response to Russia's military build-up, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today at the Munich Security Conference.

In his recent "Rally for Europe" speech, D66 leader @robjetten.bsky.social says EU needs a "minister of Defense", I am curious how D66 wants to organize that institutionally d66.nl/nieuws/speec...

mooie necrologie David Lynch van @coenvdven.bsky.social www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

. mathijsbouman.nl pleit voor Europese defensie