Prénom de l'expert

Corentin

Nom de l'expert

BRUSTLEIN

To what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic affected defense priorities across Europe?

The topic of nuclear risk reduction has gained momentum in the international security debate among policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and experts. 

The term “arms race” does not accurately reflect the events of the Cold War, let alone the multipolar logics that have followed it.

Over the past five years, several political and security developments have made it increasingly necessary to look at European Union (EU) / North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) relations through a different lens.

The instruments of cooperative security created during and since the Cold War to foster mutual confidence and reduce the risks of war, inadvertent escalation, and arms races, in and around Europe, have come under increasing strain.

Transatlantic differences over the future of the Iran nuclear deal – or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015 – are damaging a nuclear accord that all parties, except the United States, see as delivering on its purpose. They also increase the risk of Washington and European capitals working at cross-purposes vis-à-vis Iran and broader regional policies. To avoid such a scenario, the E3 (France, Germany, United Kingdom)/European Union (EU) and the United States need to set up new channels of communication to avoid a transatlantic rift, to attempt – if at all possible – to preserve the Iran deal, and to secure its benefits for regional and global security.

The ability to penetrate remote and contested theaters of operation is a crucial asset for any expeditionary military power.

Over the course of the next few years, France will have to renew its nuclear arsenal to ensure that it remains a credible dissuasion in the eyes of its potential enemies.