Virtually everyone agrees that Europe’s security architecture is too weak to defend its people and values. Yet consensus stops there. Russia’s war in Ukraine still hangs over European politics like a sword of Damocles. Three and a half years after the invasion, the war continues to sap Europe’s strategic weight, now entangled with crises from Gaza to Iran to the Caucasus. Meanwhile, the geopolitical balance among the United States, China, and the EU has shifted sharply to Europe’s detriment. Awareness is not the problem—panic is. Never has Europe felt so threatened, and never has it been so institutionally paralysed. The deeper gap between the EU’s foreign and defence policies lies in the contrast between its words and its mindset. Officially, every leader speaks of peace and stability. In practice, the discourse becomes increasingly martial, characterised by deterrence, readiness, and fear.
