Security in Europe will mean sacrifices for citizens – politico

The reset of a continent is expensive and citizens must not only understand but also accept the financial sacrifices it will imply.

Do not bring the public to risks in attitudes. Voters already feel overlooked after years of reduction in public services, and the dissatisfaction of high defense expenditure could feed more dissatisfied, which caused gains for far-right and pro-Russia populists.

Last year’s elections have already experienced a clear trend in this direction, with the populist right achieving gains through France, Portugal, Belgium and Austria. And their continuous success would destabilize European security in the same way that the current American administration now disrupts the strategic commitments of America.

During the decades, previous efforts to unify European defense policies have failed, largely due to the concerns concerning NATO SAP and the alienation of the United States instead, European integration has focused on economic cooperation, and the block was announced as a peace project rather than a defense alliance.

But an aggressive Russia and an unpredictable and newly antagonistic United States have forced a rethination. The American safety umbrella, Europe is now alone. And if the block wants to defend his values, his interests and his people, he will have to take his own defense seriously.

Fortunately, the block is already making muscular progress in this direction, marking a radical difference in fragmentary progress in the European security policy observed since the end of the Cold War. A European Zeitenende – A moment of the watershed – takes place. Where the joint purchase of military equipment was once considered a distant fantasy, the joint defense funding has now become a concern of Central Europe.