08/07/2026
Spending more is necessary. But it is not enough.
The Ankara Summit Declaration confirms that European Allies and Canada are increasing their contribution to NATO: more investment, more procurement, more industrial capacity. This is welcome. Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security and for the defence of the transatlantic alliance.
But money alone does not create strategic power.
A fragmented Europe, divided into national armies, national industries, national procurement systems and national strategic priorities, will remain structurally weak even if it spends more. Defence is not just a matter of budgets: it is a matter of political authority, common decision-making and democratic legitimacy.
This is why a real European defence requires a federal political union.
Europe needs a European authority for defence, common and centralised procurement, an integrated industrial base, autonomous strategic capabilities and a permanent multinational European force. It needs to reduce duplication and fragmentation, and to build the capacity to act as one strategic actor.
NATO remains essential. But within NATO, Europe must become a genuine pillar: capable of deciding, investing and acting together.
More spending can buy equipment.
Only political union can build power.
European defence will be federal, or it will not truly be European.