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New report warns Europe is unprepared- materially, politically, and morally- for war.
BRUSSELS, 17th December 2025 - As US-led peace talks convene in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the table, Europe’s leaders are talking ever more urgently about “readiness” - and making ever larger financial promises.
But a new report from MCC Brussels delivers a stark warning: Europe’s defence posture is built on illusion, not strength - and the EU’s unprecedented €800 billion Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 risks becoming a twenty-first-century Maginot Line: expensive, politically reassuring, and strategically irrelevant.
Read the full report here
Why this report is in the news
The EU Parl yesterday had a debate on defence readiness:
Sitting of 16-12-2025 | Plenary | European Parliament
Here is the report to be voted on today :
REPORT on European Defence Readiness 2030: assessment of needs | A10-0243/2025 | European Parliament
Here is what the Commission announced on Defence Readiness from October:
Readiness Roadmap 2030 - European Commission
More on our report
In just the past fortnight, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned in Berlin that Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years; EU foreign ministers agreed fresh sanctions targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet”; and Germany unveiled a 10-point plan to deepen defence-industrial cooperation with Ukraine, including joint ventures and procurement talks linked to wider European air-defence efforts.
Yet according to the report, The EU’s Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030: A Twenty-First-Century Maginot Line?, these announcements mask a deeper failure of strategy, capability and political will.
Written by Visiting Professor Bill Durodié, the report argues that the Roadmap reflects leaders still “fighting the last war”, echoing the vast French fortifications of the 1930s that were simply bypassed in 1940. Europe, it warns, is mistaking process for power.
“While the EU excels at technocratic planning,” Professor Durodié writes, “it remains incapable of delivering decisive action or inspiring genuine commitment. Talk of executing the Roadmap ‘at pace and scale’ is just that - talk.”
The report highlights Europe’s growing strategic weakness relative to Asia and the United States, pointing to a persistent failure to innovate, a deep aversion to risk, and a regulatory mindset that stifles entrepreneurs rather than empowering them. Heavy emphasis on procurement rules and compliance, it argues, will not produce the technological breakthroughs modern warfare demands.
Equally damaging is Europe’s chronic lack of political cohesion. In every major crisis, the report notes, member states default to national interests while EU leaders engage in rhetorical grandstanding designed to reassure domestic audiences rather than deter adversaries.
This disconnect is not abstract. Militarily, Europe can currently deploy only around 19,000 troops at any one time, far short of the minimum 100,000 required to police a 1,400-kilometre line of contact.
But the report’s most serious warning goes beyond hardware or headcounts. It identifies a crisis of spirit and legitimacy at the heart of Europe’s defence project.
After years of marginalising and alienating their own citizens, European leaders, the report argues, have undermined the foundations of loyalty, duty and shared purpose on which wars are ultimately fought.
The consequences are already visible. Recent data shows that only 11% of Generation Z in Britain say they would fight for their country, with figures only marginally higher in Germany.
As Professor Durodié concludes:
“War is just as much about spirit as it is about kit. Quadrupling defence spending has no consequence if no one is willing to fight.”
Conclusion
The report’s verdict is blunt and uncompromising: the European Union, as currently constituted, is unfit for the task it claims to be preparing for.
