How should Europe go about defending its borders and sovereignty? This is the question that has been hovering around the European states since Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s clear that European states can no longer be fully dependent on NATO and American military might, a crutch that has been used to cut military spending in Europe to favour other pursuits instead.

At the moment, there are two logical approaches to this solution. One is that which French President Emmanuel Macron was pushing for after the Russian escalation of the Ukraine conflict: the creation of a European army. The other is the creation of a NATO-like alliance that includes members of the EU and other willing participants. Both of these strategies have clear pros and cons.

The creation of a European army would greatly improve Europe’s ability to rapidly respond to any aggression from an outside force, allowing for a coordinated command and control structure, standardised equipment and tactics, and soldiers from different European states working together more naturally. There is already a precedent established for the creation of this force through the European customs agency known as Frontex. This organisation is already, in cooperation with national border security agencies, securing European borders.

However, these benefits are countered by a heavy downside. For starters, FRONTEX already has a hard time operating on its own, requiring it to cooperate with the local border security agencies that often create jurisdiction issues. The accountability of the military forces is another problem, something we already struggle with in nation-states since they are often only loyal to the government or their own interests, disregarding the will of the country's citizens.

This issue would only grow in a European Federal Army, since not only can the troops be deployed to places where they have no personal or cultural connections, but they will also owe their allegiance to the EU, not their home countries. This is concerning because EU leadership is significantly more distant from the common European citizen than the average national politician is from their country's citizens.

A European defence alliance, on the other hand, similar to NATO or a scaled-up EU Common Defence Policy, would allow for a joint European defence while allowing European nations to retain their military sovereignty. This would allow for a more dynamic and adaptable military force, with different training, equipment, and tactics. This perspective would also allow for greater safeguards of European citizens’ rights, since the closer the controlling power is to the individual citizens, the less likely they are to be disassociated from the people they are protecting.

This approach also has its downsides, like the establishment of a fully coordinated chain of command, something that was seen in WW2, when different allied commanders from several countries tried to pursue and favour their own strategies, or even in the use of universal equipment, something that, despite the NATO standard for ammunition, has caused problems in Ukraine’s fight against Russia when Ukrainian weapon systems malfunction with theoretically similar ammunition that has slight differences due to the manufacturer.

With this in mind, what would be the best defence strategy to safeguard European countries not only from the threat of an invader but to also safeguard European citizens from a potential misuse of their “sword and shield” as a tool of suppression by a federal authority?

I would argue that an alliance of European states is the defensive strategy we should strive for, complemented by a similar defence policy to that used in Switzerland in individual member states, where every citizen has the training and the equipment to defend themselves, their loved ones and their community, thus striving for a safer and freer European continent.

This article was written by Ricardo Filipe. Ricardo Filipe is a fellow with Young Voices Europe based in Setúbal, Portugal. He is currently studying for a master's degree in international and European law. Ricardo also works as a freelance translator and is an active member of the Portuguese Liberal Party (Iniciativa Liberal) where he helps coordinate communications.