It is disheartening that at a time when the United States is not only distancing itself from Europe but is also pressuring it to take responsibility for its own security, European countries are unable to reach solutions of cooperation and unity that would signal new prospects in defense autonomy.
When the two pillars of the EU, Germany and France, otherwise known as the “engine of Europe,” cannot agree on the joint construction of a state-of-the-art fighter aircraft, then what can one expect from the rest of the member-states that have much smaller economic and technological capabilities?
Everything indicates that the project of developing a Franco-German 6th generation fighter jet, promoted in 2017 by then German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, will not proceed.
It does not matter which of the two countries bears greater responsibility for the looming collapse of the project. What is clear is that despite the fine words, the announcements, and the visions about our united Europe, we remain more German, French, and Greek, and less European.
The development brought to mind a stirring speech by U2’s frontman Bono at a conference of the European People’s Party in Dublin, which I attended in March 2014. Speaking in the presence of then-Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, Merkel, then-Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras and other center-right leaders, he urged Europeans to “love” Europe more, saying that the treaties are the tools that organize our actions, but they do not define who we are, which is what our emotions do.
