Towards a European Security and Defence Union: Was 2017 a Watershed?

This essay discusses the why, the what and the what next for this remarkable year in European security and defence. Why, as some put it, has the EU’s ‘sleeping beauty’ awakened? What concretely does a European Security and Defence Union mean? And what hurdles must be overcome to ensure that 2017 will not be remembered as another false dawn for European security and defence?

Published also in: Theofanis Exadaktylos, Roberta Guerrina and Emanuele Massetti (eds), The JCMS Annual Review of the European Union in 2017, Wiley-Blackwell, October 2018, p. 131-141, ISBN 978-1-119-48905-4.