The more
Europe questions how it can protect itself, the more pressing the question of
how Europe can defend itself. On 7 May 2026, the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI) hosted a panel at the German Forum on Security
Policy in Berlin entitled "Military Assistance as an Instrument of
Security Policy: Europe in Strategic Comparison to its Competition and the USA.
It brought the leading researchers to discuss the issue of how the European Union
is repositioning itself as a security actor at a time when American strategic
priorities are changing, and traditional multilateral structures are straining.
Since its
inception in 1966 to commemorate the 150 the anniversary of the continuous
peace in Sweden, SIPRI has grown to be one of the most respected think tanks in
the world regarding issues of conflict, armaments and disarmament.
Headquartered in Solna, Sweden, it is a fully independent international
research institute, with no government or political interference, offering
information, analysis and recommendations, entirely based on open sources.
SIPRI is most commonly known by its annual Yearbook - a complete evaluation of
world armaments and international security that has become an indispensable resource
to policymakers and researchers around the world. Its records on military
expenditure and weapons trafficking are regarded as the ones of worldwide
authority. It is exactly this reputation of independence and credibility that
makes the voice of SIPRI at policy forums such as the German Forum, so
consequential.
The German
Forum on Security Policy is an annual conference organized by the Federal
Academy of Security Policy (BAKS) and brings together government officials,
military leaders, and academic experts to tackle the most pressing security
challenges faced by Germany. The 2026 edition was held at Sachsenhausen Palace
in Berlin on a tumultuous backdrop - the continuing effects of the Russian war
in Ukraine, the strains of burden-sharing in the NATO alliance, and the growing
sense of uncertainty about the extent of American involvement in European
security. The SIPRI panel lasted one hour, between 11:00 and 12:00, and was
held in German. It was also livecast to communicate with international viewers.
The discussion was chaired by two SIPRI researchers: Pieter D. Wezeman, a
Senior Researcher and a globally recognized authority on arms transfers, and
Katarina Djokic, a Researcher specializing in European security and defense
policy, and the SIPRI contact in the event.
The most
prominent part of the panel was the findings of a Stiftung Mercator-funded
research project entitled "Safeguarding Common Interests: The EUs Military
Assistance to Partner Countries." The project provides a logical approach
to the analysis of the role and use of military assistance as a foreign and
security policy tool by the EU, in terms of scale, geographic orientation,
legal forms and legal frameworks, and strategic reasoning.
The
discussion has been based on four themes, which are interrelated. First, the
panel discussed the development of EU military aid - how the bloc has evolved
since its early reputation as a primarily civilian power, into one increasingly
willing to provide weapons, training, and defense capacity to the partner
countries, most visibly through the European Peace Facility during the
Ukrainian conflict.
Second,
scholars have provided a strategic comparison with competitors and the USA,
evaluating how the military assistance architecture of Europe compares to Washington
and its peers in China and Russia, which have pursued their own security
partnerships across Africa, the Middle East and across Central Asia.
Third, the
panel discussed the pressure of US strategic reorientation - how changes in US
foreign policy are driving Europe to the limits of its reliance on Washington,
and what a more independent European security posture must look like in the
future.
Lastly, the
participants talked about the increasing role of robust alliances. Bilateral
and regional security relations are becoming increasingly strategic as
multilateralism wanes and bilateral and regional security relations grow in
strategic importance. The inquiry is whether the EU is capable of forging
partnerships that are not only reactive, but also coherent and long-term.
The
importance of the panel lies in its introduction of independent, evidence-based
research into the policy discussion at the most opportune moment. Instead of
being motivated by political expediency, the discussion was rooted in empirical
findings - a quality that is becoming more and more rare and precious.
The study
challenges the European policymakers to become more strategic thinkers. In far
too many cases, EU defense efforts have been at best reactionary to crises, and
not the products of long-term vision. Mapping the military assistance of Europe
against the help of its rivals and its most important ally, the project by
SIPRI contributes to the formation of the analytical basis of a more coherent
and proactive European security strategy.
The results
should inform scholarly discourse and policy discussions in EU institutions and
member states in the future. The questions posed by that one-hour panel in
Berlin, of what the military can contribute, what strategic independence may be
needed, and what the future of European security is, will continue to occupy
the center of the most important debates in Europe of this century.
_6784.jpg)
