Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, rearmament has become a primary objective for European states. But if this is necessary, it is first and foremost because the Old Continent believed, with the end of the Cold War, that all threat had vanished. Moscow was weak, and Washington protected it. He did not sufficiently anticipate that this situation could change.
Was this avoidable? This is the question that runs through this documentary on how Europe approaches the immense challenge of security and sovereignty. And first concerning Moscow, which began to reveal an increasingly obvious aggressiveness from the mid-2000s.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has never accepted the loss of its great power status. If it cannot be recognized as such, it will rise to it through confrontation. Central and Eastern Europe, warned by its history, was early concerned about the resurgence of its imperialism. But without succeeding in convincing the West of the continent.
A political challenge?
The invasion of 2022 wakes everyone up. Europe is scanning its vulnerabilities, and must take a lucid look at the atrophy of its armies. In a hurry to reap the “peace dividend,” its leaders slashed defense budgets too much at the end of the Cold War. A choice which had no consequences as long as Europe could rely on American protection. But this dependence becomes a trap when Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2024.
Dear to France, the notion of strategic autonomy is now on the rise. We must invest to catch up on the accumulated delay. The challenge is budgetary, but also technological, capacity and industrial. Perhaps it is even more political, as evidenced by the difficulties in convincing populations of the necessity of these heavy efforts, or in “Europeanizing” the defense industry.
