Europe needs a war economy
Analyst Maximilian Hess argues in an Al Jazeera opinion piece that Europe must mobilise its financial and industrial power as US support grows uncertain.
Europe must build a war economy and stop assuming Washington will guarantee its security, analyst Maximilian Hess argued in an Al Jazeera opinion piece published on Friday.
Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, wrote that with US support increasingly uncertain, Europe must mobilise its financial and industrial power to defend itself and counter Russia, as the war in Ukraine has devastated much of the country's south and east over the past four and a half years.
The first and most important step, he argued, is to establish a standing framework for joint EU borrowing rather than relying on one-off measures, while expanding other forms of EU fiscal support. He wrote that jitters about the existing indebtedness of states such as France are overblown, and that Europe has the means to finance its own security — 'it must now find the will to borrow for it'.
Beyond financing, Hess contended that Europe must take greater control over its economic links with Russia, including making fuller use of seized Russian assets, and reduce US influence over its foreign and security relationships. He pointed to comments by US envoy Tom Barrack that Washington was moving away from its decades-old bargain of security for Gulf oil, suggesting Europe could offer partners a different kind of relationship.
The views expressed in the piece are the author's own, Al Jazeera noted.
Source: Al Jazeera English — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.