Europe is awakening, but belatedly. The war in Ukraine and the escalating tensions in the Middle East, centered around Iran, no longer leave room for illusions. Security cannot be taken for granted and, above all, it is not free.
The approximately €850 billion being allocated to European defense over the coming years does not merely constitute a major investment. It represents a tacit admission that Europe, for decades, underinvested in its own security by outsourcing it to others. The critical question now is not whether Europe will rearm, but whether it will do so as a Union or as a collection of separate national choices.
Technology is accelerating this challenge. Drones, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence are radically transforming the nature of warfare. Power is no longer measured solely by size and weapons systems, but also by innovation, adaptability, and networking capabilities. Asymmetric warfare is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
Faced with this new reality, Europe is attempting to mobilize. The SAFE program constitutes a first, substantial step toward strengthening the European defense industry and creating interconnected industrial ecosystems. However, this alone is not sufficient.
Because Europe’s problem is not only industrial. It is, above all, political.
The Union does not lack resources. It lacks a unified strategic will. Diverging national approaches, internal political pressures, and adherence to nation-centered policies undermine the possibility of shaping a truly common defense policy.
This is not the first time Europe has faced such a dilemma. In the early 1950s, the European Defence Community represented an ambitious, yet unrealized, attempt to unify defense policy. At the time, the political cost was considered greater than the strategic benefit.
Today, history is repeating itself, but with far greater intensity. The difference is that the cost of inaction is now clearly greater than the cost of taking decisive action.
If the €850 billion is channeled without common planning, without program integration, and without meaningful cross-border cooperation, Europe risks reproducing its own fragmentation. It will spend more without acquiring a corresponding level of strategic power.
Conversely, if instruments such as SAFE are utilized to create shared European capabilities, strengthen interoperability, and establish a genuine European defense market, then the foundations of a new European security architecture may be laid.
Within this context, Greece has both a historic opportunity and a responsibility. It cannot remain merely a purchaser of defense systems. It must become an active participant in the European defense value chain.
The Greek defense industry, with key strengths in shipbuilding, electronic systems, unmanned platforms, and technical support services, can integrate into European partnerships and assume a meaningful role. Such participation is not merely an economic choice. It is a strategic investment in national power, technological expertise, and the country’s geopolitical standing.
Because defense is not simply expenditure. It is industry, technology, and influence.
The stakes for Europe are clear: to move from the rhetoric of strategic autonomy to the reality of strategic power; to prove that it can function as a unified force in a world of growing competition and instability.