We'd like to draw your attention to the article by the President of European Movement International and Former MEP Guy Verhofstadt, the President of the Union of European Federalists and Former MEP Domenec Ruiz Devesa, and the Former MEP Cyrus Engerer, published in Times of Malta in English, with the title Europe's moment: a stronger, united future

Europe’s moment: a stronger, united future

Europe can no longer rely solely on external security guarantees – it is time to take charge of its own destiny

A month into the new US administration, one thing has become clear: Europe must take charge of its own destiny. While past transatlantic ties have been strong, the shifting geopolitical landscape requires us to stand firmly on our own two feet.

We can no longer rely solely on external security guarantees – we must build a stronger, more independent Europe that is prepared to defend its values, interests and future.

The events of recent weeks have highlighted the need for a united and forward-looking approach.

Europe has always been a champion of democracy, multilateralism and international law, and it is now our responsibility to uphold these principles.

When it comes to Ukraine, we must remain steadfast in supporting its security and sovereignty, ensuring a just and lasting peace that guarantees stability for both Ukraine and the entire continent.

This is not a challenge – it is an opportunity to reinforce Europe’s leadership on the world stage.

A bold step forward

As we approach today’s European Council meeting, we must embrace a new mindset – one that acknowledges Europe’s strength and potential. The European Union has already demonstrated its capacity to act decisively in times of crisis, from responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to addressing economic and security challenges. Now, it is time to take the next step: strengthening our competitiveness, ensuring our security and becoming a true global power.

Integrating Ukraine into the EU economy – while leaving out agriculture for the time being – will strengthen both Europe and Ukraine. A rare-earths mining agreement through the European Investment Bank will secure essential resources for our industries, while increased financial and military support will ensure long-term stability.

European aid to Ukraine has already surpassed that of the United States, proving that we have the means and the determination to lead.

With over €200 billion in frozen Russian assets, we have the resources to both equip Ukraine and support its reconstruction. By reinforcing our economic resilience, deepening sanctions and closing loopholes that allow circumvention of restrictions, we can ensure a stronger, more secure Europe.

A European defence community for a safer future

Security is the foundation of a prosperous Europe. To safeguard our collective future, we must move beyond fragmented defence strategies and establish a European Defence Community (EDC), with Ukraine as a key partner.

This initiative could serve as a European pillar, close to or within NATO for those member states that do not have a neutrality clause in their constitutions, ensuring that we can act independently when needed, while maintaining strong alliances.

The Lisbon Treaty provides the legal foundation for this, and, if necessary, we must be prepared to move forward with an interim treaty among those willing, that can later be integrated into the EU framework.

Furthermore, a stronger Europe means strengthening its deterrence capabilities. Currently, nuclear deterrence protecting all EU member states comes from the storing of American nuclear weapons in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey.

With the United States’ intention to remove these security guarantees from

Europe, the European Union’s coalition of the willing could contribute to France’s arsenal; we can ensure a credible and united security posture.

This is not about confrontation – it is about peace through strength, ensuring that Europe remains a safe and stable region for generations to come.

Deepening European unity

A more secure Europe also requires a more effective political system. We must complete our political union by removing national vetoes, currently hindering an effective and efficient European Union on foreign and defence issues.

At the same time, we should strengthen the European Parliament. The reform of the treaties, as proposed in 2023, provides a clear pathway toward a more democratic and responsive European Union.

By empowering our institutions, we ensure that Europe can act swiftly and decisively in the face of global challenges.

The time is now

Europe stands at a crossroads – not one of crisis but of opportunity. The question is not whether we can rise to the challenge but how boldly we are willing to move forward. By deepening our unity, strengthening our economy and ensuring our security, we can shape a future where Europe is not just a global player but a true leader.

We'd like to draw your attention to the article by the President of European Movement International and Former MEP Guy Verhofstadt, the President of the Union of European Federalists and Former MEP Domenec Ruiz Devesa, and Director of the Association Jean Monnet Olivier Védrine published in La Tribune de Geneve in French, with the title C'est la soumission ou les États-Unis d'Europe!

Une réflexion sur l’avenir de l’Europe par Olivier Védrine, Guy Verhofstadt et Domènec Ruiz Devesa.

Après un mois de présidence Trump, il est clair que les États-Unis ne sont plus nos alliés. Ses déclarations impérialistes sur le canal de Panama, le Canada ou le Groenland, ses menaces de guerres commerciales, son dialogue avec un dictateur responsable de la plus grave guerre d’agression en Europe depuis 1945, le prouvent.

Un axe Trump-Poutine

Après la tentative d’humiliation médiatique de Zelensky, les attaques contre la démocratie européenne et la présence des forces américaines sur notre continent, la fin de l’alliance transatlantique conclue par Churchill et Roosevelt face à la menace nazie est proche. Nous assistons à l’émergence d’un Axe Trump-Poutine hostile au droit international, au multilatéralisme et à la démocratie. Nous refusons la collusion avec Poutine pour imposer une solution qui légitime l’agression et ne garantit pas notre sécurité.

Ukraine, Russie

Que faire? D’abord, nous devons prendre conscience de la nouvelle réalité. Jusqu’à récemment, certains dirigeants de l’UE étaient dans le déni en se réfugiant dans le mantra atlantiste. L’Europe est seule, comme la Grande-Bretagne en 1940. Elle doit prendre ses responsabilités pour prendre en main son destin.

Nous devons intégrer l’Ukraine dans l’économie de l’UE, sauf dans l’agriculture, conclure un accord d’exploitation des terres rares et renforcer notre soutien. L’aide américaine, inférieure à celle de l’Europe qui est l’une des économies les plus fortes du monde, n’est pas irremplaçable. L’Allemagne doit livrer les missiles à longue portée Taurus. Nous devons supprimer toute restriction contre des cibles militaires russes conventionnelles, renforcer les sanctions contre la flotte pétrolière fantôme russe et utiliser les 200 milliards d’euros d’actifs financiers gelés de l’État agresseur.

Face à la menace, nous devons lancer un plan industriel européen financé par la dette commune et des ressources propres. Il s’agit de combler le déficit technologique, d’investissement et de compétitivité identifié dans le rapport Draghi, tout en renforçant notre industrie de défense, notamment par la création d’une banque européenne d’armement.

Mais face à ce défi existentiel, la production conjointe d’armements ne suffira pas. Nous devons créer une communauté européenne de défense avec la participation de l’Ukraine. Elle garantira notre défense territoriale, en tant que pilier européen de l’OTAN mobilisable indépendamment de Washington.

L’Europe au premier plan

Cela est possible avec les dispositions du Traité de Lisbonne sur la défense commune européenne et la coopération structurée permanente. Si les alliés de Trump au Conseil européen bloquaient cette proposition, un traité séparé intérimaire devra être conclu. Nous proposons par ailleurs de faire bénéficier de la dissuasion nucléaire tous les États membres volontaires pour participer au financement de l’arsenal français.

Parallèlement, nous devons renforcer notre union politique et démocratique, supprimer les veto nationaux et donner plus de pouvoirs au Parlement européen, grâce à une réforme fédérale des traités.

Que faut-il encore pour qu’une réaction se produise? L’arrivée de soldats russes à Varsovie? C’est soit les États-Unis d’Europe, soit la soumission.

On the 12^th of March 2025 the European Parliament, echoing the “Memorandum on a European Defence Union”[1] issued by the reconstituted Monnet Action Committee for the United States of Europe, called the European Council to activate the different provisions of article 42 of the Lisbon Treaty to setting up a European Common Defence.

This will pave the way for the creation of an autonomous European Defence System (EDS), endowed with its chain of command and in charge of territorial defence. Such and EDS will not be dependent on the will of the current US President, and it will operationalize the mutual assistance clause foreseen article 42.7 of the Treaty.

Therefore, we fully support this urgent call for action by the European Parliament in view of the meeting of the European Council of 20th March 2025. We ask President Costa and the High Representative to propose to the Member States the activation of article 42.2 TEU for the establishment of the said Common Defence. If unanimity is not reached, we call for a large group of Member States to establish the proposed EDS on the basis of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), foreseen in article 46 TEU. This institutional PESCO shall remain open to all Member States willing to join.

We must remind Member States that a European defence cannot be reduced to the different rearmament proposals, something that could also result in waste and inefficiencies if not properly coordinated at the EU level. There will not be a proper European Defence Union without the required political, strategic, and operational dimensions.

We also must emphasize that any viable European Defence Union also requires overcoming the national vetoes and the intergovernmental approach, thereby ensuring the proper parliamentary and democratic control of the EDS. Therefore, we remind the European Council of its legal obligation to follow up on Parliament´s proposal to reform the Lisbon Treaty in a federal direction, and call to President Costa to urgently address the matter with the Member States.

The massive citizen´s demonstrations of 15^th March that have taken place in several European cities, from Rome to Tbilisi, confirm that there is a strong popular sentiment in support of freedom, democracy, European integration, and Ukraine´s resistance, and against Putin´s and Trump´s imperialism, and their allies in Europe. We call on the European peoples to sway their national leaders and choose to unite in a federation, and we ask on the European Council to hear these strong voices.

Finally, we commit ourselves to foster the popular mobilization for a more united Europe in the run up to the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration.

Related news:

1. White paper on the future of European defence. European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2025 on the white paper on the future of European defence (2025/2565(RSP))

This article was written by Giuliano Torlontano citing the MFE President Stefano Castagnoli, former UEF President Sandro Gozi and the Spinelli Group board member Brando Benifei and published on the 14 March 2025 in the weekly magazine L'Espresso, about the need for the United States of Europe to stop the TrumPutin axis.

This article was written by Guy Verhofstadt, President of the European Movement International, Former MEP and Former Prime Minister of Belgium; Domènec Ruiz Devesa, President of the Union of European Federalists and Former MEP; and Enrique Barón Crespo former President of the European Parliament published on the 06 March 2025 in the weekly magazine El Pais, about the need for the United States of Europe to stop the TrumPutin axis.

Read the article in Spanish here: LINK.

A little over a month has passed since his inauguration as president, and he has already made it very clear that the United States of Trump are not our allies. Let's review: his imperialist statements about the Panama Canal, Canada, or Greenland; the tariff wars; his direct dialogue with Putin, a bloody dictator responsible for the most serious war of aggression in Europe since 1945; the attack of Vice President Vance on European democracy; the insinuations of the Secretary of Defense about the end of the security guarantee or the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the continent; the end of military aid to Ukraine; the probable lifting of sanctions on Russia, and the attempt to humiliate Zelensky in front of the cameras.

We see, on the other hand, the emergence of a new Trump-Putin (Trumputin) axis. It is the end of the transatlantic alliance founded in August 1941 by Churchill and Roosevelt against Nazi Germany: it is evident that we do not share the same vision of the world and we cannot trust the U.S. for the territorial defense of the EU.

What to do? Just like Great Britain in 1940, we must assume that Europe is alone in the face of a real danger and must assume its responsibility to help Ukraine, guarantee its competitiveness and security, and become a true federal power.

We propose integrating Ukraine into the EU economy (except for agriculture), signing an agreement on rare earth minerals, and intensifying our financial and military support. U.S. aid has been crucial so far, but it is not sustainable. The EU has one of the most developed economies in the world: Russia's GDP is barely equal to that of Spain. We have at least 200,000 million euros in financial assets managed by the aggressor State that we must confiscate to arm and rebuild Ukraine. Germany must provide long-range Taurus missiles, and we must eliminate any restriction on the use of weapons against Russian military objectives, deepen sanctions against the Russian petrochemical phantom, and close indirect trade through Central Asia that evades them. We must face the double geo-economic and geostrategic threat of Trumputin with a new European industrial plan financed by common debt and new own resources to cover the technological, investment, and competitiveness gap, and to boost our capacity in the defense industry with the creation of a European Armament Bank.

But we cannot guarantee our collective defense solely with the joint production of weapons. We must create a European Defense Community (EDC), with the participation of Ukraine. The new EDC will be responsible for our territorial defense as a European pillar in NATO, so that it can act independently of Washington, applying the legal bases of the Lisbon Treaty. For this, we must strengthen our political union to eliminate national vetoes through the federal reform of the Treaties proposed by the Parliament in 2023.

The undecided continue to doubt, but what more has to happen for a reaction to occur? Seeing Russian tanks at the gates of Kiev or Vilnius? We must choose between the United States of Europe or the Trumputin axis.

Last week, the Civil Society Week, organized by the European Economic and Social Committee, took place.

Just like in 2024, UEF was invited to participate in the CSW, an important platform where we discuss our activities and liaise with partners.

This year, the main focus was on strengthening cohesion and participation in polarized societies. Follow us throughout this week, filled with insightful discussions and enlightening exchanges of ideas and thoughts with colleagues.

We would also like to thank the Committee for organizing this successful event, all the speakers and contributors, and of course, our dear CSO colleagues. United, we are stronger!

Watch here the video about the event

This article was written by Guy Verhofstadt, President of the European Movement International, Former MEP and Former Prime Minister of Belgium and Domènec Ruiz Devesa, President of the Union of European Federalists and Former MEP, published on the 03 March 2025 in the weekly magazine il Venerdi di La Repubblica, about the need for the United States of Europe to stop TrumPutin.

You can read the article in Italian here: LINK.

Weapons Alone Are Not Enough: We Need the United States of Europe to Stop TrumPutin

The America of the tycoon can no longer be considered a partner. The EU needs more than just joint arms production; it needs defense and politics at the federal level.

Just over a month into his term, it is already abundantly clear that Trump's United States are no longer our allies. There is no need to recall the imperialist statements on the Panama Canal, Canada, or Greenland, the threats of trade wars, his direct dialogue with Putin—a bloodthirsty dictator responsible for the most severe war of aggression in Europe since 1945—the attack on European democracy by Vice President Vance, the insinuations by the U.S. Secretary of Defense about the end of American security guarantees or the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the continent.

With the verbal aggression and attempted humiliation of Zelensky in front of the cameras on February 28th, the U.S. President has certified the end of the transatlantic alliance born on the USS Augusta by Churchill and Roosevelt in the summer of 1941 against the Nazi threat. Instead, we see the emergence of a new Trump-Putin axis.

We no longer share the same vision of the world and the same values: defense of international law, multilateralism, and democracy. Regarding Ukraine, we disagree with his collusion with Putin to impose a solution that legitimizes the aggression and does not guarantee its long-term security and that of Europe.

It is clear that we cannot rely on the United States for the territorial defense and nuclear deterrence of Europe, and therefore not on NATO, at least as we have understood it so far. The military alliance is entering a period of hibernation for at least the next four years. What should we do in view of Thursday's European Council meeting?

First, we must collectively become aware of this new reality. Until February 28th, some EU leaders still denied it. Some refused to accept that the Americans are no longer our friends, continuing to repeat the Atlanticist mantra. This is unsustainable.

Like Britain in 1940, Europe stands alone in the face of a real and present danger and must take responsibility for helping Ukraine, ensuring its own competitiveness and security, and becoming a true federal power. Secondly, we must integrate Ukraine into the EU economy (except for agriculture), sign an agreement on the extraction of rare earths through the European Investment Bank, and intensify our financial and military support.

U.S. aid has been crucial so far, but it is not irreplaceable. In fact, the total amount of European aid is already higher than that of the U.S. Europe is one of the strongest economies in the world: Russia's GDP is barely equal to that of Spain. We have no less than 200 billion euros in frozen financial assets of the aggressor state, which we must seize to arm and rebuild Ukraine.

Germany must deliver the long-range Taurus missiles and remove any restrictions on the use of weapons against conventional Russian military targets. We must tighten sanctions against the Russian ghost oil fleet and close indirect trade through Central Asia that circumvents them.

Thirdly, we must address the dual geoeconomic and geostrategic threat posed by Trump with a new European industrial plan financed by common debt and new own resources to bridge the technological, investment, and competitiveness gap identified in the Draghi report and to strengthen our defense industrial capacity, including the creation of a European Armaments Bank.

An Existential Challenge

As with the pandemic, this is another existential challenge. But we cannot ensure our collective defense solely through the joint production of weapons. We must create a European Defense Community (EDC), with Ukraine's participation.

The EDC will be responsible for our territorial defense as the European pillar of NATO, which we can activate independently of Washington, applying the legal bases of the Lisbon Treaty on European common defense and Permanent Structured Cooperation. If Trump's allies in the Council were to block these possibilities, we would have to create them with a separate interim treaty, to be integrated into the EU framework as soon as possible.

We propose extending the scope of nuclear deterrence to all EU member states that wish to participate in financing the French arsenal. Simultaneously, we must strengthen our political union, eliminate national vetoes, and confer additional powers to the European Parliament through the federal reform of the treaties proposed by the European Parliament in 2023.

The well-intentioned still hesitate, but what else must happen for us to react? Russian tanks at the gates of Kiev or Warsaw? We must choose: the United States of Europe or TrumPutin.

Read here the MEMORANDUM ON A EUROPEAN DEFENCE UNION

UPDATE

The UEF has receved answers from the Chair of Renew Europe Valerie Hayer in data 5 March with the indication of this call of Renew sent to EU Leaders (LINK HERE)

Read the new UEF Policy Proposal on a Common European Defence

While there is broad recognition of the need for Common European Defence under the current geopolitical environment, including the collapse of the transatlantic alliance, there is still a lack of political leadership in both fostering it and in defining and implementing a concrete work plan within a short time frame. The main obstacles are political fragmentation, an undefined and therefore non-agreed end-goal, a lack of trust among member states, and, more significantly, the lack of political courage to pursue existing initiatives and institutional pathways. The absence so far of genuine political consensus among governments and European institutions on how to move forward is further complicated by institutional obstacles such as the unanimity rule.

The prevailing temptation is to simply increase national military spending within the NATO framework. However, accumulating national defence expenditures does not contribute to a truly European defence. Such an approach does nothing to improve Europe’s standing in power dynamics vis-a-vis Trump’s US, either within or outside NATO.

With this Proposal the Union of European Federalists aims to stimulate reaching a political solution on such an urgent and a critical question with a concrete proposal for a European Common Defence in accordance and in any event compatible with the Treaty of Lisbon, in view of the upcoming meeting of the European Council on 6th March, the Plenary of the European Parliament of 10th March, and the publication of the White Paper on Defence on 19th March, 2025.

Brussels, 4 March 2025

Domènec Ruiz Devesa

President of the Union of European Federalists and former Member of the European Parliament

Ilaria Caria

Secretary-General of the Union of European Federalists

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Union of European Federalists proposes a Common European Defence