Daniel Fiott

Journal Articles

  • European Defence and Statecraft in 2050: And What Needs to be Done to Get There

    European Defence and Statecraft in 2050: And What Needs to be Done to Get There

    What would European defence look like if NATO were to disband or become ineffective? In the latest paper in CEPR’s Europe 2050 series, Daniel Fiott (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) treats this as a serious thought experiment rather than a remote contingency. His starting point is that the EU, in its current form, is not an obvious… Read more

  • Advancing the Inclusion of SMEs in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base

    Advancing the Inclusion of SMEs in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base

    Against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the rapid battlefield adaptation that it has led to, defence innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are being seen as key contributors to Europe’s industrial preparedness, production scalability and security of supply. To this end, recent European Union (EU) policy and financial initiatives have specifically… Read more

  • The Strategy Trap? European Threat Assessments and the Problem of Common Action

    The Strategy Trap? European Threat Assessments and the Problem of Common Action

    The EU’s 2026 threat assessment demonstrates that while Europe has developed a clearer understanding of its strategic environment, it remains less certain about the political choices required to respond to it. Russia’s war has brought European threat perceptions closer together, but convergence around the existence of a threat has yet to produce a genuinely common… Read more

  • Russia’s War on Ukraine: A Zeitenwende for European Defence?

    Russia’s War on Ukraine: A Zeitenwende for European Defence?

    Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 profoundly transformed Europe’s strategic landscape, forcing governments across the continent to rethink the foundations of their defence policies. But did the war truly result in a European “Zeitenwende”? This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of how European countries, the EU, and NATO responded to the largest security… Read more

  • Ankara and NATO 3.0: A Time of Reckoning?

    Ankara and NATO 3.0: A Time of Reckoning?

    NATO leaders will meet once again in Ankara on 7-8 July 2026. This will be the second summit ever held in Türkiye, with the first held in Istanbul in 2004. Back then, allies were celebrating the enlargement of NATO to include seven new allies, mostly from the Eastern Flank countries. The Summit also expanded the NATO-led operation… Read more

  • Wanted: European Defence Sector Talent

    Wanted: European Defence Sector Talent

    High-end talent and skills have emerged as a decisive factor in Europe’s ability to convert greater spending into defence capabilities. Without a sufficient talent pool, the defence industrial base risks becoming a bottleneck rather than an enabler of security. The scale of the challenge is already visible. ASD Europe calculates that the European defence industry… Read more