What the New Year Brings for Europe’s Leaders
As Europe’s top brass return to work after the winter break, they face a mixed bag of political and regulatory challenges.
In an interview with DIE ZEIT, Shearwater Senior Adviser Sylvie Goulard warns that unilateral approaches to rearmament risk driving a wedge between Paris and Berlin, unless they bind themselves to a shared European approach to sovereignty. Drawing on her expertise dating back to German reunification talks, Sylvie Goulard argues that loose nation-state coordination and “coalitions of the willing” are too brittle to guarantee long-term security against threats from Russia and elsewhere. Instead, a phased roadmap toward European defence integration is best. Modelled on how Europe built its single currency, she explores joint initiatives on cyber warfare and disinformation, and urges European leaders to ditch taboos around a unified European army. Only a united Franco-German front will prevent the rise of nationalist forces like Marine Le Pen in France or the AfD in Germany. This requires bold political leadership that offers an integrated European vision rather than competing ideas from European capitals.
Sylvie Goulard was French Armed Forces Minister and an MEP. She also serves as President of the Franco-German Institute and sits on the Board of the Munich Security Conference.