"Europe's collective defense still relies on the NATO trans-Atlantic alliance, the EU's top diplomat told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday. But there is an urgent need, Kaja Kallas said, for Europe to take the lead in its own defense. Kallas, the European Commission's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, channeled the Avengers superhero franchise with her address, titled "Europeans Assemble! Reclaiming Agency in a Rougher World.""
"She singled out Russia as Europe's biggest threat, saying its "endgame" was not the Donbas region of Ukraine but a wider assault on the region. "Russia already seeks to cripple economies through cyberattacks, disrupt satellites, sabotage undersea cables, fracture alliances with disinformation, coerce countries by weaponizing oil and gas," said Kallas. "And of course there is also the nuclear threat.""
"Speaking on Sunday, MSC head Wolfgang Ischinger stressed the need to plan for European defense, in particular to "ramp up defense production and to create a more cohesive and globally competitive European defense market." Woven throughout speeches and soundbites from European leaders at the three-day event was an insistence they had started to deliver that, responding to demands from the Trump administration to pull their weight in NATO. In response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, European nations have boosted defense spending in recent years"
Europe's collective defense remains anchored in the NATO trans-Atlantic alliance, but leaders call for urgent European agency in defense. Russia is identified as the principal threat, aiming beyond Donbas toward a broader regional assault and employing cyberattacks, satellite disruption, undersea cable sabotage, disinformation, energy coercion, and nuclear intimidation. Proposed responses include a new EU security strategy, enlargement of the bloc, and expanded trade and security agreements with partners such as India, Mercosur, and Australia. European leaders emphasize ramping up defense production and building a cohesive, globally competitive European defense market. Defense spending across Europe has increased in response to Russia's war in Ukraine.
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