European Defense Integration after Trump's Re-Election: A Proposal to Revive the European Defense Community Treaty and its Legal Feasibility

Donald Trump’s re-election as President of the United States and Russia’s aggression of Ukraine pose unprecedented challenges to transatlantic relations and European security, as the EU is unprepared to take care of its defense. This paper explores how the law can be activated creatively to achieve defense integration in Europe and proposes to revive the 1952 European Defence Community (EDC) Treaty. Specifically, the paper claims that, in strictly legal terms, the EDC can be brought into operation today – simply with the ratification by 2 states: France and Italy – and provides comprehensive arguments from public international law, comparative law, and domestic constitutional law to make the point. Needless to say, legal feasibility does not equate with political feasibility, and the paper mentions several of the obstacles and challenges along this path. Yet, shedding light the EDC has two advantages. On the one and, the paper emphasizes how the EDC – with a common army, funded by a common budget and governed by supranational institutions – constituted an articulated response to the problem of securing European security, superior to the current CFSP framework. On the other, it identifies a differentiated path to achieve greater European defense integration, which appears more likely than amendment of the EU treaties, requiring agreement by 27 member states.