The “Train Has Stopped Again”: Common European Defense and Relations with NATO

The present paper aims to investigate the evolution and stages of the concept of European defense after the Treaty of Lisbon. Any reference to European security and defense policy is always an open challenge that highlights the complexities of the past in this area, as well as the present. The constant crises, the increasing and/or decreasing armaments of member states, the role of the Atlantic Alliance, the constant aggression of various states against others, the limitations of its intergovernmental system and unanimous decision-making rules are always evolving and subject to further analysis. On the other hand, the lack of strategies for member states, including those within NATO, powers like the United States and its rival China, are challenges that demonstrate the lack of true European military autonomy. An autonomy that perhaps is unnecessary given the focus on a common operational structure that places the management of external military missions within the framework of European defense integration, viewing it as a stage in the Union’s ongoing evolution.