Who Defends Europe?

Who Defends Europe?

Without a protective shield from the USA, Europe needs Ideas for your own (self-)security

Will the USA withdraw from Europe in the medium term, as appears to be the case under Donald Trump? Then the Europeans will hardly be able to defend themselves effectively against an attack. This is the analysis of Jana Puglierin, Head of the Berlin office of the European Council for Foreign Relations ECFR. In her book „Who will defend Europe?“, the foreign policy expert outlines the threats Europe faces: conventional, hybrid and nuclear. Based on this, she advises on what urgently needs to happen now to make Europe more capable of defence - and why this is precisely the right way to prevent a Russian attack from becoming a reality from the outset.

In an interview with defence expert Franz-Stefan Gady, Jana Puglierin discusses what military and non-military capabilities Europeans need to be able to guarantee Europe's defence in an emergency. After decades of pacifist thinking, frightening but also necessary questions arise in 2026: Should EU states finance a standing army? Should military service be extended? What do hybrid warfare and drone warfare mean for national budgets? And do peaceful democracies like Germany need nuclear weapons as a deterrent?

Jana Puglierin, is head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations and one of the most prominent German experts on foreign, security and defence policy in Germany. She has been a member of the Federal Government's Advisory Council for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding since 2023. In her Handelsblatt-column «Geoeconomics» and in talk shows and articles for various media, she regularly comments on current affairs.

Franz-Stefan Gady, is an independent defence expert. In his book „Die Rückkehr des Krieges“ (Quadriga, 2024), Gady explains why Europe must once again deal with war as a reality. His book was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2025. The reserve officer in the Austrian Armed Forces is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington D.C. His latest book „Überfall - Wenn der Krieg nach Österreich kommt“ will be published by Molden Verlag in April.

Tessa Szyszkowitz is an Austrian journalist, author and historian („Trauma und Terror“, Böhlau, 2008). Her most recent book: „Echte Engländer - Britannien und der Brexit“ (Picus, 2018) She is a Distinguished Fellow at the British defence think tank Royal United Services Institute RUSI in London and curator of the Kreisky Forum.