Policy Voices | Why is Europe at war and what needs to be done

Host Thomas Van Vynckt, Head of Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, is joined by Myroslava Gongadze and Gábor Iklódy, Senior Fellows at Friends of Europe. Myroslava is a Ukrainian-US national whose husband was abducted and murdered in 2000, an event that prompted a career of advocacy and campaigning for press freedom in Ukraine, Europe and the US. Gábor is a Hungarian diplomat who was forced out of the national civil service following the rise of Viktor Orbán. Together, they discuss the warning shot they co-authored and published just days ago.

Europe, not just Ukraine, is at war. Russia’s hybrid operations across Europe reach the level of a sustained, low-intensity hybrid war against Europe and NATO warn Friends of Europe Senior Fellows. Yet Europe continues to apply a peacetime logic to an environment that is no longer peaceful and an adversary that does not feel bound by international law. They call for an urgent shift from a peacetime posture to a genuine defensive mindset, arguing that a renewed focus on defence is not sufficient in the absence of a comprehensive EU defence and security strategy going beyond additional spending.

These are some of the points set out in Friends of Europe's warning shot, 'Europe at war,' co-authored by Friends of Europe's Senior Fellows Myroslava Gongadze, Gábor Iklódy and Jamie Shea.

Read Friends of Europe's warning shot here: https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/frankly-speaking-europe-at-war-friends-of-europes-warning-shot/