Page 15 - The European Union and the War on Ukraine

The EU and the War in Ukraine

The European Union - An Emerging Military Power

Currently, the EU is passing through extremely challenging
times. For years, the Union had been working towards a better

organized union for a more democratic, prosperous Europe and the
well-being of its citizens. But now, the EU needs to handle the full-scale
war in its immediate neighbourhood. The brutal war of 2022, which
Europe has not seen since the end of WWII, bears an imminent risk of

spilling over into the Union’s borders. Luckily, the Kremlin’s military
adventure revealed that the convergence among EU members is
powerful and that what binds Europeans together far outweighs that

which divides them.
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As the war in Europe is no longer unthinkable , for the first
time, the EU needs to answer a question: Is Europe militarily resilient or
vulnerable? It looks like the times when many EU members opposed

the EU common security policy, thinking that the US would continue to
keep Europe safe through NATO, are gone. Thus, the EU is compelled
to take on the challenge and implement extraordinary measures, many
of which, as we will see below, the Union has resorted to for the first

time.
Many perceive the current process as "a geopolitical awakening
in Europe." Recent surveys reveal that European citizens are more
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12 The phrase: “the use of force is unthinkable...” is a cliché which has widely been
used in the OSCE documents (ex. https://www.osce.org/cio/74236) and represents a
commitment not to engage into any military confrontation. The phrase is also used by
the EU in its decisions.
13 By the European Council for Foreign Affairs; https://ecfr.eu/
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