Pablo Hiriart
Madrid.- A key question in these turbulent times for the international order was raised last week at the presentation of a document on “the European defense dilemma” at the headquarters of one of the most respected think tanks in this part of the world, the Real Instituto Elcano:
“If Putin did what Trump is doing, what would we say?” They were referring to the announcement of an upcoming appropriation of Greenland and the aspiration to annex Canada to the United States, among other cases. This question confronts Europe with a mirror that reflects its double standards, derived from its economic, technological, and military weakness.
“We have been fortunate to have lived for 80 years without having to worry about our defense, which has been in the hands of our greatest ally (the United States),” said Dolores Cospedal, Spain’s defense minister during the government of Mariano Rajoy. Now, “there is no dilemma: we must take charge of our defense, one way or another.”
The meeting at the Elcano Institute took place two days before the US bombing of three nuclear facilities in Iran, following decades of warnings to the Ayatollah regime to halt uranium enrichment for clearly destructive purposes, which it dismissed with fanatical arrogance: “Israel must disappear from the face of the Earth,” “The United States is the enemy because it is Satan himself.”
The point, in this case, is that Donald Trump did not consult with NATO or notify his European Union allies; he disregarded international law without even observing some of its formalities. The US bombs destroyed (let us hope so) the Iranian nuclear facilities, but they also exposed Europe in its current pitiful irrelevance.
Today and tomorrow, the NATO summit is being held in The Hague, and the Iran issue has disrupted the agenda. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been relegated to third place because Trump has little interest in it: his gaze is on Asia. The European partners in the Atlantic alliance will have to commit to increasing their defense spending “no matter what,” as Dolores Cospedal stated.
At the beginning of the Elcano Institute meeting, one of the participants raised another key question: “Defense, yes, without a doubt. But what are we defending?” He answered his own question: “We are defending a way of life with democracy, freedoms, human rights, legality… and our main ally is challenging those values.” The Atlantic alliance “is not only defensive, but also an alliance of values,” he said.
This is the dilemma facing Europeans ahead of the NATO summit and the new priorities of the United States, which, if it channels resources, will not be for this continent, but for Japan, South Korea, Israel, or even Australia. Strengthen itself economically, technologically, and militarily, or sink into irrelevance when Europe has so much to contribute. This is where the Enlightenment and human and civil rights were born.
These days, the European Union is staging a tragicomic sketch: it calls for diplomacy, invokes international law, and defends multilateralism… while the United States acts alone. Europe calls for restraint. Trump launches missiles. So we will surely see at the summit in The Hague that the Iran episode is revealing of a deeper fracture. Europe speaks in the name of a rules-based international order, but lacks the means to enforce those rules.
The United States, its main ally and guarantor of its security, not only acts outside those principles but in many cases openly violates or undermines them. The inconsistency is unsustainable. Europe bases its support for Ukraine on the defense of international law, the condemnation of unilateral aggression, and territorial integrity. Does that only apply to Putin, while it remains silent or barely murmurs in the face of what the United States is doing?
The problem is not just one of form. It is structural. European defense continues to depend on US capabilities for 70% of its needs. Strategic intelligence, satellites, command and control systems, missile defense, combat drones: everything essential is made in the USA. And as long as there is no real autonomy—military, technological, energy—Europe will remain condemned to geopolitical irrelevance.
Although, as stated in the presentation of the paper by Félix Arteaga, Daniel Fiott, and Luis Simón, perhaps the question is no longer whether Europe should change its strategy. The point is whether there is still time because its role in the world is at stake.
If it does not act with real autonomy, if it does not back up its principles with effective power, it will remain the polite voice that no one listens to anymore. And the role of moralizing actor is played much better by Pope Leo XIV. At least he is listened to with respect.
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