Over 50 United Europe members joined us for our virtual New Years Briefing on “Defense Capability and Competitiveness – How can Europe can hold its own in the new year?” with Günther H. Oettinger.
Recent global developments present Europe with both encouraging progress and serious challenges. On the positive side, the long-awaited Mercosur agreement is finally near to completion, opening the world’s largest free trade area and creating significant opportunities for European exporters. Alongside this, promising trade initiatives with the UEA, India, and closer cooperation with the UK signal renewed focus on pragmatic economic partnerships at a time of shifting global alliances. Although the UK is not a member anymore, under Starmer it has become a close partner.
However, Europe faces growing geopolitical uncertainty. Developments in regions such as Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland, combined with increasingly unpredictable signals from the United States, highlight a critical weakness: We need world politics ability! Europe lacks a coherent and unified capacity to act decisively on the global stage. Europe has only two priorities: Strengthening security, defense capabilities, and military investment and – equally vital – Economic competitiveness. Sustained growth is essential to maintaining Europe’s social system and global influence.
Looking ahead, political risks loom large. Divisions within the EU over Mercosur and upcoming elections in France and Poland raise concerns about Europe’s future unity and stability.
Without clear leadership, effective communication, and a shared strategic vision, Europe risks losing both global relevance and internal cohesion.
In short, while there are reasons for cautious optimism, Europe must act decisively – on trade, security, and political unity – to shape its future rather than react to events beyond its control.
Members Interventions:
Members agreed that while Europe has long pursued a value-driven foreign policy, this approach must now be firmly anchored in interests, power politics, and real-world capabilities. Value-based policies remain relevant—particularly through trade agreements with democratic partners—but there was broad consensus that the era of lecturing other countries from a position of moral superiority has come to an end.
Several interventions underlined that values can only be credibly promoted if Europe itself is economically strong. Competitiveness, innovation, education, and sustained growth were identified as the foundation of a convincing European model and a prerequisite for projecting values internationally. Prolonged economic stagnation weakens Europe’s influence and has prompted a renewed focus on restoring competitiveness. In this context, excessive regulation and bureaucracy were criticized, with references to existing frameworks such as taxonomy rules, the deforestation directive, and CBAM, which were seen as having undermined economic strength. Rebuilding competitiveness was therefore described as essential not only for prosperity, but also for safeguarding Europe’s values globally.
A second intervention reinforced that security, defense, and competitiveness must be Europe’s top priorities, while adding global ambition as a crucial third pillar. In an increasingly competitive global environment, ambition was described as a prerequisite for relevance. Trade agreements were highlighted as a key instrument of this ambition, particularly with partners such as India, Mercosur, and Australia. Members also noted that public debates on trade are often misguided and that Africa is insufficiently addressed, despite being Europe’s direct neighbor and a region where China, India, and Russia are rapidly expanding their influence.
EU enlargement was identified as a central issue for the next three to five years and an integral part of Europe’s global ambition, strengthening its geopolitical weight and strategic reach. Across interventions, members stressed that values and power are not contradictory but mutually reinforcing. Internal stability based on democracy and freedom is a prerequisite for global influence, and portraying values and power as opposites only serves hostile actors and extremist forces seeking to weaken European Union.
Finally, members emphasized the importance of networks and partnerships. Beyond formal enlargement, Europe must actively align itself with strategic partners and relevant global networks to strengthen its position in international affairs.