ForeignAffairsMag在2021-11-15~2021-11-21的言论
54: Europe Needs to Step Up on Defense: Brussels Should Borrow and Spend More on Security, submitted on 2021-11-18 23:25:24+08:00.
—– 54.1 —–2021-11-18 23:27:58+08:00:
[SS from the article by Max Bergmann, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Benjamin Haddad, Senior Director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.]
“Security and defense are suddenly back on Europe’s agenda. The United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan—which left European allies reeling over the perceived lack of consultation—and tensions with France over the Australia–United Kingdom–United States (AUKUS) submarine deal have sharpened European concerns that as Washington embraces the “pivot” to Asia, American priorities are shifting away, not just from Europe but also from the Middle East and North Africa. And although President Joe Biden’s commitment to NATO’s Article 5 pledge—to treat an attack against one NATO member as “an attack against them all”—remains ironclad, polling suggests that on both sides of the political spectrum, Americans’ appetite for military intervention to resolve conflicts in Europe’s broader neighborhood has waned in recent years.
Alert to this trend, European officials increasingly recognize that Europe must begin to take charge of its own security. On September 15, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union will hold a summit on defense in the first six months of 2022, during France’s upcoming presidency of the bloc. But what makes this moment different is a shift, not in Paris or Brussels but in Washington. In meetings between French and American officials following the AUKUS spat—and then in an October 29 meeting in Rome between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron—the United States acknowledged the need for more robust European defense capabilities “complementary to NATO.”
For the United States, which has long been concerned that independent European defense initiatives could subvert the transatlantic alliance, such a public endorsement of Europe’s ability to defend its security apart from NATO was a potentially meaningful policy concession. But as former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Alexander Vershbow recently commented, “talk is cheap, capabilities are not.” The United States’ newfound openness to EU defense is ultimately significant only if the EU seizes the moment and takes real initiative. Time to go big. Unless the EU comes through with a bold proposal that results in tangible military acquisitions that fill gaps in NATO’s capabilities and enable Europe to act on its own if needed, a more balanced transatlantic partnership will remain a pipe dream. Thanks in large part to the precedent set by Europe’s pandemic recovery plan, there is now a straightforward way for the EU to fund new defense initiatives: borrow the money. We propose the European Union launch a new 100 billion euro initiative to support defense acquisitions.”
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