Today Europe is in the middle of a nuclear crisis the world has not seen since 1962. And unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is now directly involved because of its role in the war in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has also had dramatic repercussions on Europe’s economy, even causing cracks in the European Union’s solidarity. And yet, it seems that the EU is not in control of its destiny. It is tottering indecisively and waiting for the US to determine the political, economic and even cultural path European countries must follow in their ties with Russia. Is the EU not mature enough to stand on its own two feet?

This essay summarizes the evolution of inter-Western political and ideological relations and those between the West and Russia. It scrupulously examines the causes of the tragedy in Ukraine to reach the conclusion that now the time has come for the EU to become a full-fledged sovereign state, one with centralized and independent defense and foreign policies (among others). The EU – as it prepares to make Ukraine a member - needs strategic autonomy to establish a pan-European security architecture with Russia, something former German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of in September 2022. Obtaining strategic autonomy is essential not only to avoid the fragmentation of the Union and/or its total subordination to the US, but, above all, to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and eventually make the EU one of the protagonists of the emerging multipolar world order.

Sergei (Serge) Tseytlin is a Russian-American author. He lives in Rome and collaborates with the Luiss Institute for European Analysis and Policy. Among his books is the historical novel Bragadin, about the siege of Famagusta and Venetian hero Marcantonio Bragadin.

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