THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 82 its political-military dominance in the region. The third, that economic sanctions are not decisive to vanquish an assailant, not even to stop the conflict, at least in the short or medium term, with very tough consequences for those imposing them.The fourth, that in a conflict set out by the Kremlin as a stand-off with the USA, leader of NATO, and therefore, the West, it is Europe that loses, suffering the toughest economic consequences, that se- verely affect its population. This leads to the most repeated and debated lesson learned: the EU cannot postpone the much-heralded goal of its strategic autonomy any longer, on pain of becoming the scenario in which other powers resolve their differences. We are of course referring to energy autonomy - based on the diversification of imports and fast development of renewable energy - that has been demonstrated to be essential, but also financial, eco- nomic, industrial and technological, including the cyber- security and satellite fields that are now proving to be so decisive in this war. In the military field as well, it is essential to create a European Union of Defence that in normal conditions will make it possible to guarantee the security of Europeans against any attack or coercion. Naturally, when lining up against the country with the most nuclear weapons, the USA’s dissuasive capacity is essential and therefore NATO is the field in which collective defence should be guaranteed. However, this must be the exception, and in fact it already is because, as we mentioned, use of this type of weapon would also be exceptional. The Russian government disregarded the EU when it made its demands to the USA and NATO in December 2021, and later only individually to the European capitals because it considers them dependent on Washington with no decision-making capability of their own. This situation cannot go on. The EU has to grow up and become strong enough to create an in- surmountable obstacle to the Russian attack, or from anywhere else, without always having to go running to the USA that will logically decide what is best for its own country and will always prioritise its own interests. And, finally, maybe the most important lesson learned in this war and, more in general in the last dec- ade, is that Europe will never be secure with a stable perspective while Russia is not part of a broad security agreement that is acceptable for all parties, including the states in the EU’s Eastern Partnership, that includes renewed measures of trust and control of weaponry, based on the indivisibility of security and respect for the sovereignty of all states. The coexistence of Europe and Russia is inevitable and perhaps this cannot come about with the current regime, given that it takes two to tango. However, if the Russian regime does not change, this must be attempted again when the war in Ukraine finishes or is extinguished.