Who will defend Europe? - Current Affairs Lecture [cancelled]

Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office ended in a bizarre fight, JD Vance lashed out at European leaders at the Munich Security Conference, and Greenland is to become part of America. With the U.S. increasingly appearing as an unreliable partner in ensuring European security, all eyes are on the major powers within Europe. 

Can we count on a leadership role from Germany, where the CDU became the largest party with Merz? What can we expect from France when Macron steps down in two years? And where is Europe heading in terms of balancing its security dependencies with its ambitions of strategic autonomy? 

In this Current Affairs Lecture, dr. Nele Marianne Ewers-Peters will elaborate on the state of European security in an uncertain world with shifting powers. What can European leaders do to strengthen the security and autonomy of their countries? What will NATO look like if the US takes a step back or even acts openly hostile towards other member states? Will the transatlantic drift lead to yet another crisis in Europe? 

Nele Marianne Ewers-Peters is Assistant Professor for European Security at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) at Maastricht University. Her research interests and expertise are in EU-NATO cooperation, the role of member states in security organizations, approaches to security cooperation, and crisis management. 

This Current Affairs Lecture is organized by Studium Generale and Prof. Michal Onderco. The next lecture in this series will be on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.