Massimiliano Cannata on Eurispes.it did a wonderful review on the book; "The defense of Europe", of Pasquale Preziosa e Dario Velo. Today more than ever we need Europe, we need to believe in and pursue concrete actions to find a true and credible European identity, an identity which, in the light of the latest events in the Middle East - Libya, Syria, Iraq - is also required by everyone the major international players since the United States is no longer considered a reliable interlocutor due to Trump's fluctuating foreign policy.
To reverse the course, Europe must quickly recover a strong political initiative and a lost identity, this is the message that comes from the interesting essay The defense of Europe (ed. Cacucci, 2019) of Pasquale Preziosa e Dario Velo, top experts in geopolitics and international security. Precious he teaches at the Niccolò Cusano University of Rome, after having been Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and having led important strategic missions in many theaters of war; Velo played an important role in the European integration process, collaborating with Jean Monnet, Robert Triffin, Altiero Spinelli; carries out an important publicity and teaching activity in several prestigious universities.
«Our study - is keen to clarify Dario Velo - he unexpectedly anticipated the results of the recent European Council of 12 December last, which, on the proposal of Merkel and Macron, put an intergovernmental conference on the future of Europe on the agenda. In addition to issues related to immigration, the climate and economic growth that needs to be restarted, defense will be one of the great questions to be addressed and resolved, starting from the role that the eurozone will have to play in the warm areas of the world, from the Middle East to North Africa».
The nodal point, which also acts as a Fil rouge of the discussion, must be identified in the need to resume and actualize the great "European dream" of the founding fathers.
«Let's not forget - comments Precious - that Europe was born almost from an "obligation" imposed by the USA after the great fire of the Second World War, which had caused millions of deaths. Already then, the need for the various nations to find a space for dialogue had emerged clearly, in order to avoid repeating such a terrible page in history. Without a continuous confrontation with the past, and an adequate exercise of memory, it will not be possible to restore momentum to the old Continent avoiding making the same mistakes of the past».
The essay traces some important historical passages that led to the birth of the ECSC, to the failure of the European Defense Community. The authors clearly analyze the long work that led to the creation of the EU. "Europe has fueled the cancer of Nazifascism in its organism. This means that democracies are not immune from errors, especially when they are not alive and when they tend to mortify the principle of participation and listening to minorities, ending up losing the pursuit of the common good. In order not to find ourselves on the brink again, we need to develop an adequate European defense strategy. It's not about arming states - the analysis of the scholar continues - rather to build a balance and a sustainable balance between the new powers operating in the international scenario, by making a concrete commitment to maintaining and strengthening peace».
There is a "demand for Europe" expressed by many nations that need a reliable interlocutor to withstand the hegemonic forces exerted by the new "masters" of the world. China has grown enormously, Russia is looking with ever greater attention to what is happening across the border; the result is that the US no longer has the ability to be the exclusive arbiter of the destinies of the world. Putin's statement during a recent summit, on the strategic importance of hypersonic, is the demonstration that by now old schemes and deterrence systems are not taking the test of innovation. A race towards the new has started which nobody knows. With the new hypersonic technology available, space has become a military domain that will modify strategies, interventions, and investments.
In this perspective, old Europe cannot renounce to redefine its role that can guarantee security in such a "liquid" and ever-changing context. The "end of the territories", to use a famous definition by the French political scientist Betrand Badie, with the consequent decline of the "Leviathan" and Hobbesian logics, imposes a different paradigm of sovereignty and security, all to be rethought with critical realism, beyond beyond the veil of maya of the ideologies and "isms" that armed states in the twentieth century. But be careful: the project of a new active presence of Europe in a changed geopolitical framework supported in the essay, takes into account that the EU is too young to own the know-how and NATO military instruments. The authors are aware of this weakness: «No attempt - specify - to create a second NATO; it is a question of building a pillar within the already existing structure that responds to the complexity of the needs of the various European governments. In this attempt, the risk to be avoided is that of the leaks forward: the construction of a European army is still to come, further steps will be needed and a governance capacity consistent with the transformations taking place, especially by the continental ruling classes, not yet prepared to face the needs of the new world scenario». Taking the longest step of the leg would mean arousing dangerous reactionary thrusts, which have already occurred in the past, thrusts that in a moment of crisis such as the one we are going through, would translate into a desire to close borders and a regurgitation of authoritarianism, whose drift would be difficult to predict.
Another aspect not to be overlooked, which weighs heavily on political choices, is represented by budgetary difficulties. The explosion of sovereign debt has weakened states; the drainable resources for a defense project are therefore to be recovered only in Europe. This should be followed by the example of the USA, which despite having doubled their debt in a few years, continue to devote large sums to investments in defense. Commitment to defense means commitment to research and innovation. Technology is in fact neutral by definition, the possibility of applying it and spreading it on a wide range of products, then makes the difference. China has been able to imitate and apply the American model, Europe will have to resume a concerted initiative if it does not want to resign itself to an easily foreseeable decline, to recover innovation and competitiveness in global markets..
«We are not only behind in research on hypersonic - comments Precious - but also on the cyber security front, sectors considered now strategic, while the fourth industrial revolution is emerging, which has a digital soul and which is changing the ways of conceiving and organizing the work of billions of people around the planet».
Let's not despair, the opportunity to resume the "broken paths" traced by the founders can be glimpsed, despite the many critical issues of the present time. The Eastern countries are starting to consider the EU a valid partner for the construction of new balances, in a historical moment in which we are finally understanding how security is a holistic concept, which today includes economic and financial aspects, as well as to involve more far-reaching philosophical, psychological and existential issues.
The dangers on the road to the future are certainly not lacking, starting from scouting technology that many countries are doing by subtracting brains and skills from the old Europe, which continues to pay: Italy holds a sad record in this topic, the bleeding of an intelligence flight, difficult to buffer. "The founding fathers did a lot for us - he concludes Velo - it's time to show that we understood the lesson, reaffirming the values of Europe, which historically have translated into the implementation of a social market economy, which is also spreading in the USA and Latin America as a counterpart to neocapitalism, respecting plural freedoms and diversity, in the practice of subsidiarity as the guiding principle of state organization».