Ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, calls for higher defence spending are dominating the agenda. But military investment alone cannot guarantee Europe’s security. Sabine Mengelberg argues that NATO’s long-term strength depends equally on political cohesion and shared values, foundations that sustain deterrence and the alliance’s ability to confront security challenges.
With the United States reducing its strategic role in Europe, NATO is entering a new era of European leadership. ELN Executive Director Robert Ondrejcsák argues that Europe’s priority should be strengthening alliance capabilities rather than creating parallel structures, while examining how rising defence spending, shifting military power within the continent, and new security partnerships will shape NATO’s long-term “Europeanisation”.
A decade after the Brexit referendum shattered the UK’s relationship with the EU, the ELN’s Nikita Gryazin argues that Europe’s security can no longer afford parallel approaches. With geopolitical pressures intensifying, he makes the case for turning political rapprochement into lasting security cooperation through stronger institutions, defence-industrial collaboration, and operational partnerships.
The upcoming EU-Western Balkans Summit in Montenegro will test whether the European Union can turn geopolitical urgency into credible enlargement policy, writes Serbian politician and diplomat Goran Svilanović. He contends that integrating the Western Balkans is now a strategic necessity amid great power competition and growing uncertainty in transatlantic relations.
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags on and battlefield realities continue to evolve, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Hanna Shelest and Yuliia Shaipova from Ukrainian Prism to examine the growing toll the war is taking on Russia and how Ukraine has continued to innovate in the face of Russian attacks.
Balázs Csuday writes that Péter Magyar’s landslide victory has upended Hungary’s political order, opening the door to constitutional conflict, institutional upheaval, and a major foreign policy reset after 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule. The result could reshape Hungary’s relationship with the European Union and reverberate across Europe’s populist right.