In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron described NATO as “brain dead”. He said this during the first term of US President Donald Trump. Now, with Trump back in the White House for a second term, that diagnosis has become a starting point for many debates on Europe’s future security and sovereignty.

But what comes next? How close is Europe to being able to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by military means in these turbulent times? How strong is Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union, the clause governing mutual assistance among EU member states in the event of an armed attack? How dependent is Europe on non-European arms manufacturers? And are Europeans prepared to defend their liberal democracy, based on the UN Charter and the rule of law, if necessary by force?

This topic emerged from a joint brainstorming exercise among participants in MeetEU’s biweekly events on the prerequisites for EU sovereignty. It was ranked as one of the most urgent issues.

To discuss these questions, we have invited Dr Gesine Weber. She is a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies for Global Security at ETH Zurich. Her research focuses on European security and defence in the context of global power shifts, grand strategy, the global order, and relations between Europe and China.