For Mattarella, there is a need for a common European defense that is a real deterrent

Only a common European defense, integrated with NATO, will give the EU prominence and will be the necessary “deterrent” against revived Russian aims. Sergio Mattarella once again urges the 27 allies to unite to defend the continent by overcoming the current fragmentation. While Putin talks about a new “world order”, while Zelensky flies to European capitals to build an exit strategy from the war, while Israel pushes on the border with Lebanon until it overwhelms the Unifil mission, the head of state sounds the alarm clock in Brussels, but above all for European governments, so that they overcome their divisions and understand that only united can they be a barrier to the aims of the new powers, starting from that of Moscow. The second pillar of the President of the Republic’s thinking is the “indispensable” alliance with the USA, which cannot be left alone to guarantee “international stability”.

In Krakow for the Arraiolos summit, the head of state follows the latest events which also involve our UN contingent, as well as the news on the Ukrainian diplomatic front. And once the debate with the other presidents is over, he issues the convocation for 23 October of the Supreme Defense Council focused on the developments of the two conflicts. Nothing exceptional, the Council takes place every six months and brings together the President, Prime Minister, ministers and defense leaders, but the opportunity will be very timely for an exchange of ideas on the hottest fronts.

E the theme of defense was central also at the Krakow summit. Mattarella states that the huge use of resources for weapons fills him with sadness. His words resonate on the day the Nobel Peace Prize it was awarded to the Japanese organization of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a reminder against nuclear rearmament which was thought to have been overcome. “Personally I feel, even more than regret, sadness in seeing immense quantities of financial resources for the purchase of weapons, taking them away from social uses” notes the President, who will not have missed the voices of those who criticize the new arms race. “But” he explains “we are forced to do so” by the changed climate after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A topic that has never been heard by Polish hosts but also by the presidents of Estonia and Latvia, neighbors of Moscow.

Europe, reiterates the head of state, “must face great challenges” and “steps forward” are urgently needed to be effective and timely. And “among these challenges and reforms – which cannot be deferred – there is that of common defense of the Union”. Common defense had already been perceived as a necessity 25 years ago, however held back by divisions between countries and by a certain US coldness which seems to have been overcome, at least by the current administration, awaiting the US vote. After all, it is almost It’s a matter of arithmetic to understand that united we are stronger: “The United States is capable of conducting complex operations. We 27, all together, have strong limitations and can carry out operations of significantly reduced complexity” having “fragmentation in 27 different Armed Forces”, “duplication of functions and tasks”, “different weapon systems with difficult interoperability, “27 military industries , often in competition with each other”.

Meanwhile, on our borders the ‘Russian doctrine’ tries to introduce the principle according to which the weaker countries have “only two paths before them, political, economic, cultural alignment or invasion” by powerful neighbors. And rereading the recent history of relations between Moscow and Kiev, Mattarella notes two “errors of evaluation” in the Russian choice. Putin thought that “the US gaze had definitely turned away from Europe and towards the Pacific” and believed that the EU, disunited, would not “create difficulties”. Instead, “Biden has once again turned his attention fully to Europe” and “the Union has been united – almost unanimous – in its support for Ukraine”.

Now, on the eve of the November 5 vote, “the Kremlin expects the United States to return to focusing its attention on the Pacific or to return to disengagement, as happened in the 1920s”. At that point “the EU would not be an insurmountable obstacle for Russia”. Therefore, “the deterrent is a Union with adequate military capabilities that only a true common defense can ensure. Guaranteeing a strong maintenance of the Atlantic Alliance, because, in full complementarity, NATO would be strengthened”.

It is in fact being created a multipolar worldwith several great powers not always responding to the principles that underlie American and European democracies. “For international stability and to counter those who trample on international law, the USA alone is no longer enough.” “We must not leave them alone” warns the head of state who indicates as a unique and indispensable possibility “that of acquiring real, effective military capabilities. Always ready for cooperation that eases tensions, respecting the independence and sovereignty of each state “. Obviously, “in the hope of never having to use them”.