Ever since Russian troops landed on Ukrainian soil in 2022, there has been ceaseless talk of the renaissance of NATO. Less attention has been paid to the reinvention of the European Union (EU) as a wannabe Great Power that increasingly views the world’s future through the lenses of geopolitics and war.

Long-standing neutralities have turned into historical artifacts, defense spending has returned to levels not seen since the Cold War (€270 billion in 2023 by EU member states alone), and the EU has provided billions in funding and weapons directly to a country (Ukraine) for the first time.

The EU recently unveiled its first defense industry strategy to ramp up and better coordinate its military-industrial complex. Signaling their downgraded response to the tick of a “climate time bomb,” member states have also slashed a common fund called the European Sovereignty Fund — a response to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — from €10 billion to €1.5 billion, explicitly turning its focus from climate- to defense-related projects.