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EU strategy and European defence - What level of ambition?

29 Nov 2016 - 12:36
Source: EEAS/flickr

The global proliferation of precision-strike systems and the concomitant emergence of anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) capabilities challenges the foundations of Western global military-technological supremacy. What does this mean for current EU debates on military ambition?

This policy brief argues that the assumption of the freedom of (military) access and movement, which has guided European strategic thinking since the end of the Cold War, is no longer valid. Europeans should get to grips with the new military-strategic paradigm and translate this into an updated ambition level and related capabilities.

This publication is part of the From EU Strategy to Defence series. More information on this series can be found here.