{"id":421227,"date":"2025-03-13T13:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T12:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/03\/13\/e5-parigi-ucraina-difesa-europea\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T14:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:51:09","slug":"the-plan-of-the-five-european-defense-heavyweights-for-the-continent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/03\/13\/the-plan-of-the-five-european-defense-heavyweights-for-the-continent\/","title":{"rendered":"The plan of the five European defense “heavyweights” for the Continent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels –\u00a0There has been a great frenzy in Europe these past few weeks. All of a sudden, the chancelleries want to take the continental security issue <\/strong>into their own hands, starting with Ukraine but also with the prospect of an eventual disengagement of Washington<\/strong>. The sense of urgency is particularly acute on this side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Thus, the defense ministers of France<\/strong>, Germany<\/strong>, Italy<\/strong>, Poland,<\/strong> and the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/strong> met yesterday (March 12) in Paris to discuss the Old Continent’s strategic priorities in the new era, where they navigate in uncharted and tumultuous waters. This new format, E5<\/strong>, was launched to deepen cooperation among the five leading powers\u00a0<\/i>of continental defense, even if the participants’ positions diverge on some points (such as the relationship with Donald Trump’s United States<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Security and deregulation<\/h3>\n

As at last week’s extraordinary summit<\/a>, on the agenda of the third meeting of the E5 Group (the first had been in Berlin in November, the second in Warsaw in January) were two items: European security and the Ukraine war. “Europe must<\/strong>\u00a0acknowledge that it must start defending itself<\/strong>,” said Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto<\/strong>, to ensure that the 27 member states\u00a0are “ready for anything.”<\/p>\n

Poland’s Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz<\/strong> welcomed a “real unity of the continent in the face of the threat from the East.” For him, the imperative is “to keep Russia as far away<\/strong> from all our countries as possible.” The Baltics and Scandinavian chancelleries share Warsaw’s\u00a0goal urgently, and\u00a0even Brussels is beginning to take it seriously.<\/p>\n

\"Guido<\/a>
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto (photo: Alessandro Amoruso via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, playing grand strategists requires a solid industrial base. Thus, the EU members of the E5 Group call<\/a>\u00a0to simplify EU and national regulations<\/strong> that could “hinder or slow down” arms production and procurement to free up\u00a0the hands of\u00a0companies in the sector<\/strong>. “We want to deregulate<\/strong> at the European level, but also in our nation-states,” said\u00a0Germany’s Boris Pistorius<\/strong>, while according to Crosetto, “bureaucracy should be reduced<\/strong>”\u00a0 to “achieve practical progress.”<\/p>\n

It is like shooting at\u00a0the Red Cross. Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> has already signaled that she is ready\u00a0for a new wave of deregulation<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0a “massive” rearmament of the Union<\/strong>, pounding out a mind-boggling 800 billion over four years. The crucial elements\u00a0of her ReArm Europe<\/a> plan\u00a0are creating\u00a0new budgetary space for the 27 member states<\/strong>\u00a0and an ad hoc fund to strengthen the EU’s industrial base<\/strong>. At least on this, the alignment between the chancelleries and the Berlaymont seems absolute.<\/p>\n

The war in Ukraine (and Ankara’s game)<\/h3>\n

\n

Even on the Ukraine dossier, something is\u00a0moving. According to the host S\u00e9bastien Lecornu<\/strong>, a “very broad consensus” is emerging on the need to support the Kyiv army<\/strong>, the “first security guarantee” for the former Soviet republic (much to the chagrin of the Kremlin’s desire<\/i>\u00a0for its demilitarization). The discussion on Ukraine’s new “security architecture”<\/strong> would now be expanded to include some<\/strong>\u00a0fifteen countries<\/strong> (which he did not mention) interested in participating in the coalition of the willing<\/strong> launched by Keir Starmer<\/strong> and Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

E5 ministers welcomed the proposed ceasefire<\/strong> agreed in Jeddah<\/a>\u00a0by Kyiv and Washington, reiterating that it is now Moscow’s turn to take a step toward ending hostilities. Among the most pressing issues, Lecornu explained, are security in the Black Sea<\/strong> and for\u00a0Ukrainian nuclear power plants<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Tusk<\/a>
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan (right) welcomes Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Ankara, March 12, 2025 (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another meeting, convened the previous day in the French capital, between the Chiefs of Staff of over\u00a030 European and NATO countries<\/strong>, was devoted to securing the attacked country. Recep Tayyip<\/strong> Erdo\u011fan’s<\/strong> Turkey could play an essential role among non-EU partners, as it\u00a0has the second largest army in NATO after the US.<\/p>\n

At least, this is the direction of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering between Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk<\/strong> and the Turkish President, who met in Ankara while the E5 group was gathering in Paris. According to them, the Anatolian Republic should regain its lost centrality in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine<\/strong> (in 2022, it helped conclude agreements on Kyiv’s grain transit through the Black Sea).<\/p>\n

What about Washington?<\/h3>\n

Beyond the calls for European strategic autonomy<\/strong>, which\u00a0resonate mainly along the (perhaps) rediscovered Franco-German axis, the Paris meeting also confirmed that Uncle Sam remains crucial to the security of the Old Continent. “No one in Europe wants to be antagonistic to the United States<\/strong>,” Crosetto reiterated to reporters, adding that “we cannot break the Western alliance on the altar of industrial autonomy.” Not so fast, therefore.<\/p>\n

Not even Warsaw wants to sever the umbilical cord that binds it to Washington; on the contrary. Kosiniak-Kamysz has said he wants to “strengthen transatlantic relations.<\/strong>” At the same time, today, President Andrzej Duda<\/strong> proposed<\/a> to the White House to transfer to Poland the US\u00a0nuclear warheads<\/strong>\u00a0present in Western Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (right) greets US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 13, 2025 (photo: NATO via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte<\/strong>, is currently visiting the Oval Office. The former Dutch prime minister is on a mission to persuade the tycoon to reconsider and to prevent the risk of the\u00a0United States seriously distancing itself from the Alliance<\/strong>, as several prominent members of the Trump administration suggested on several occasions.<\/p>\n

For now, most see Washington’s potential disengagement from the Old Continent as a political lever to force European allies to take more responsibility<\/strong> regarding their security, especially in terms of defense spending. But these days, one never knows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Paris, members of the E5 discussed Ukraine, security, and deregulation in line with the new course set by Brussels. Everything fits into a grand design that extends to Ankara and Washington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":421217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[26411,25802,30515,30715,27857,26329,26484],"class_list":["post-421227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-nato-en-8","tag-e5-en","tag-defense-en","tag-mark-rule-one"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421227"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421242,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421227\/revisions\/421242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}