Anand Menon rightly observes that the EU’s peacetime foundations depart it ill-suited to handle the safety challenges going through the continent now (The European Union was designed for peace – it’s by no means going to be a struggle machine, 1 October). Fortunately, Europe is just not devoid of the instruments required to rise to this second. The European Political Group – which met in Copenhagen final week – was cobbled collectively to current a united entrance with Ukraine, however has rapidly established itself as a fixture of the diplomatic calendar, and one of many sole boards that may nonetheless convene post-Brexit Britain, Erdoğan’s Turkey and the non-EU “japanese flank”. It’s already proving to be the versatile and inclusive car for widespread motion that European safety calls for.
In the meantime, unique pondering and a willingness to interrupt out of institutional silos could but assist the EU itself overcome the “delay and fudge” Menon identifies. On this entrance, an EU financial safety council is an thought whose time has come – a simple-to-implement framework, within the mannequin of its American equal, which might ship the geostrategic evaluation of key selections that the EU desperately wants. The EU itself will most likely by no means train arduous energy, but when we will hardwire a way of financial statecraft all through Brussels policymaking, the establishments might be higher in a position to leverage the facility they do possess – not merely for peacetime prosperity, however within the service of continental safety too.Luuk van MiddelaarFounding director, Brussels Institute for Geopolitics
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