In the increasingly heated debate over the future of European defence, the April 2 episode of Half past eight staged a real clash of visions between philosophy, politics and realism. Guests of Lilli Gruber: Massimo Cacciari, Aldo Cazzullo and political scientist Nadia Urbinati.
Cacciari rejected the idea of an indiscriminate rearmament: “Without a European army, any military effort risks being useless, or worse, harmful”According to the philosopher, arming individual countries in the absence of a common political strategy is only equivalent to strengthening those who are already strong – Germany in the lead – without building real shared security.
Cazzullo appears more practical, at least relaunching the urgency of a European “defensive shield”. “We live in an unstable world - he said - and Europe can no longer rely only on NATO or luck. A minimum of deterrence is needed.”
The crux remains the industrial asymmetry largely linked to the funds earmarked for defense, which will inevitably end up in the German war apparatus, first in terms of production capacity. A dynamic that raises political questions: who really benefits from this rearmament? Who will control a future common defense? The risk, as often happens, is that everything ends in a happy ending – an Italian art envied around the world – while the real decisions will be taken elsewhere, based on national interests rather than "Europeans".
While waiting for a common army that still seems far away, there is a risk of spending a lot without obtaining either security or strategic returns, at a time when Italy is already under pressure from duties and internal difficulties. In this context, Prime Minister Meloni's caution on diplomatic dossiers could prove to be a farsighted choice, aimed at containing the economic repercussions. As Cacciari observes, behind the usual declarations on intentions, a Europe of bilateral agreements rather than unity is making its way. In short, a mosaic that, once again, remains unfinished.
Yet, the very pressure generated by these crises – from defence to tariffs – could finally force the Union to make that decision. political leap awaited for decades: to transform Europe from a simple sum of States to a true federal entity, with a common defense, a unitary foreign policy and a shared identity. A historic, urgent challenge, which would require courage and vision.
But intellectual honesty is also needed: a truly federal Europe, today, still appears to be more of an ideal than a concrete horizon. Much less utopian, however, are the unknowns that weigh on the global geopolitical future, in particular those related to the other major player that worries (truly) the United States: China.
