The militaristic dogma of the European Union

José Reinaldo Carvalho - In her 2025 State of the Union address, Ursula von der Leyen transformed the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg into a platform for military escalation and the reaffirmation of the hegemony of the bloc's major powers. "Europe is fighting a battle" and "this must be the moment of European independence," proclaimed the Commission President, making it clear that the priority is to arm the war machine and double down on geopolitical pressure, especially on the front against Russia via NATO.

The event was held as a promotion and showcase for a European Union "that assumes more responsibility for defense" and "remains firm with Ukraine," revealing militaristic tendencies and the hegemonic ambition in the conflict-ridden multipolarity that is taking hold in the world.  

The essence of Von der Leyen's speech is military planning, with the dedication of astronomical sums. She mentioned "Readiness 2030"—a financial engineering project that, according to the Commission's own guidelines, aims to mobilize up to 800 billion euros in military investments and related instruments such as SAFE (Security Action for Europe), the new financial instrument of the European Union, adopted on May 27, 2025, for joint procurement. "NATO will continue to play a fundamental role," she said, but the European Union must have a "strong and credible position" in defense—that is, to duplicate its own capabilities, budgetary preferences, and industry. 

The rhetoric of "independence" stumbles on the obvious: militarism serves as the cement for a Europe in which Germany and France dictate the pace and where integration functions as a transmission belt for the strategic and industrial interests of the richest countries. The "combat" invoked in the discourse is not for peace, but for the bloc's capacity to project power.

In the Ukrainian chapter, the Commission President's speech reinforced what Brussels had already been announcing: the preparation of the 19th sanctions package against Russia and the acceleration of mechanisms to use immobilized Russian assets to finance the Zelensky regime. This is the "financial-legal" outline of a policy that maintains war as its horizon, fueling the European arms industry and financing its purchases of weapons and other military equipment. The context of the speech accentuated the escalation: hours earlier, Russian drones had allegedly violated Polish airspace, an episode used as a pretext to strengthen interventionist plans. Instead of paving the way for diplomacy, the EU proposes more sanctions and rearmament. 

While increasing military spending, the Commission promotes the old neoliberal recipe under the guise of "competitiveness": deregulation for businesses, "pioneering markets," tax breaks and incentives, as well as a crusade for "affordable energy" that, in practice, socializes risks and privatizes profits. 

The promise to “eradicate poverty by 2050” sounds cynical in the face of social urgency and the budgetary drain on defense. “It’s a basic matter of social justice,” she stated — but what actually reaches working families is the bill for years of austerity, now turbocharged by a war economy.

The political outcome: more weapons, more divisions, less social justice.

The 2025 State of the Union address crystallizes the imperial perspective of an EU that confuses “leadership” with the capacity for coercion—economic, diplomatic, and military. By targeting €800 billion for military spending, promoting the 19th sanctions package, and maintaining the logic of austerity at home, Brussels is choosing a path that deepens inequalities and externalizes conflicts. 

In Strasbourg, Von der Leyen called for “unity.” What she delivered was militarization, sanctions, and neoliberalism—the recipe that, for years, has made workers pay the price for the profits of large corporations and the prominence of the bloc's powers. If this is the “fight” the Commission offers, it is legitimate to question who wins and who pays for this war that is not the war of the European peoples, but of the monopolies that control the EU.