The Strategic Weakening of Debt-Ridden Europe

Author(s): Daniel Möckli
Editor(s): Daniel Möckli
Series Editor(s): Andreas Wenger
Book Title: Strategic Trends 2012: Key Developments in Global Affairs
Series: Strategic Trends
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Place: Zurich

The debt crisis has strategic consequences for Europe. The EU's role as an anchor of stability among its member states has been weakened. Intra-European power shifts, political fragmentation, renationalization dynamics, and declining public trust in the EU have thrown the European project into its biggest crisis ever. In foreign policy, the EU's clout is shrinking for lack of cohesion, money, and political will. European defense is bound to suffer from a credibility deficit unless decreasing military expenditure is compensated with more pooling and sharing. While the EU is resilient enough to prevent collapse, it faces years of austerity in more than just economic terms.

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