{"id":453109,"date":"2025-09-26T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T15:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/453109\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T15:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T15:33:11","slug":"why-europe-needs-a-cultural-deal-in-its-defence-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/453109\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Europe needs a cultural deal in its defence strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the face of war on its borders and strategic uncertainty across\u00a0the Atlantic, Europe is undergoing a historic rearmament. Hundreds of billions of euros are being committed<\/a> to military and economic resilience. But there\u2019s a risk: that Europe will succeed in arming itself \u2014 yet\u00a0fail to defend what it stands for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because even the most advanced military is useless if its citizens are unwilling to fight for the continent it protects.\u00a0That\u2019s why Europe now needs a Doppelstrategie \u2014 a dual strategy that treats hard power and soft power as equals.<\/p>\n

This means putting our focus not just on tanks and drones, but stories, symbols, and shared meaning. To truly protect itself, Europe must invest not only in defending its borders, but in defending its belonging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The missing half of EU defence strategy\u00a0<\/p>\n

Polling from the European Council on Foreign Relations<\/a> (ECFR) shows that Europeans now support a strong military stance, from conscription to strategic autonomy. But these shifts in opinion sit atop fragile foundations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many Europeans don\u2019t yet feel truly part of a shared European identity. The European Union still struggles to overcome its longstanding image as distant, elitist, or exclusive. It often feels too Western, too white, too old according to the European Sentiment Compass<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without belonging, there is no loyalty. And without loyalty, no defence policy can succeed. The paradox is clear: while Europe is preparing itself for war, it risks losing peace at home \u2014 through alienation, populism, and civic apathy. As the American Political Scientist Joseph Nye reminds us, soft power is not sentimental \u2014 it\u2019s strategic<\/a>. Soft power is the ability to make others choose your side because they believe in what you stand for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A culture deal is a strategic investment in Europe\u2019s future\u00a0<\/p>\n

To build this soft power, the Culture Deal for Europe<\/a> must stand as the other half of the EU\u2019s security agenda. This cultural focus is not a luxury: it makes up the cultural infrastructure of Europe\u2019s survival. We need a cultural deal to promote all the things which make Europe, Europe.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It must fund arts, education, and civic exchange as tools of resilience; support community-level participation and storytelling across borders; counter xenophobia, polarisation, and the narrowing of identity into ethnic nationalism; and invest in a massive Erasmus for Digital Creators spreading European belonging and values.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just as NATO once balanced deterrence with diplomacy, today\u2019s Europe must match its military ambition with a deep investment in the social glue that makes it worth defending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A true\u00a0\u2018doppelstrategie\u2019 to prepare Europe\u00a0<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s Doppelstrategie must be more than metaphor: it must be policy and money. It should include both a hard power track for defence spending, strategic autonomy, readiness and a soft power track for civic education, cultural investment, digital creators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Europe\u2019s defence budget is approaching 5% of its GDP, an equal amount must be allocated to soft power \u2014 to the everyday work of building trust, imagination, and solidarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This does not compete with deterrence;\u00a0it would make it credible. It would ensure that when Europe is challenged, it is not only its governments that respond \u2014 but its people who believe in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Every Friday our editorial team goes behind the headlines to offer insight and analysis on the key stories driving the EU agenda. Subscribe for free here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the face of war on its borders and strategic uncertainty across\u00a0the Atlantic, Europe is undergoing a historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699],"class_list":{"0":"post-453109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}