Europe's defence structure is taking shape. The EU in December 2017 launched a "permanent structured cooperation" on defence agreement (PESCO) across 25 countries to stimulate the development of military projects and the design of common defence equipment. As the United Kingdom and its powerful army prepare to leave the EU, new challenges to the security of the continent are emerging with the Islamist threat, growing tensions with Russia and pressure from migration. With this new common defence structure, will European countries redefine their relations with NATO? Will the EU live up to these new challenges?
Defence and security
A continent's preparations for a world of challenges
Arms for Ukraine: US pulls ahead, Europe slows
Dozens of countries have supplied military support to Ukraine since Russia invaded it on February 24, but new pledges of support from European countries have tapered off, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy notes
Europe faces dilemma on Russians fleeing Putin’s draft
The European Union is facing a tough balancing act over how to deal with Russians fleeing military mobilisation, as some countries look to block entry and others offer possible refuge
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A crowd including Russian tourists gathers in the Finnish town of Imatra as water rushes from a dam to the sound of music. But since the end of July, the show has begun with Ukraine's national anthem.
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Situated some 1,000 miles from Moscow, the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad has been drawn into the war in Ukraine, after Lithuania said it would no longer act as a conduit for sanctioned goods arriving in the territory from the motherland
Coronavirus, Defence and security, Economy, Energy, Food and agriculture, Health, Migrants, Infographic
War, hunger, Covid-19 cast gloomy shadow over Europe
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the list of Europe's woes keeps growing as it battles rising food and energy prices and continued disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic
Hungary’s neutral war stance puts off Ukraine refugees
Like Kristina Novytska, most Ukrainian refugees in Hungary are keen to leave the country, whose nationalist leader's neutral stance on the war is an exception in the EU