Wednesday, 11. Dec 2024, 5pm (CET)

https://tinyurl.com/Science4Peace  or https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87653470277

The implications of the Trump presidency for Europe

Prof T. Sauer (Antwerp U)

Abstract: If the arrival of the Trump presidency is not the time to get our act together in Europe, when will it be ? Here we have our major partner imposing tariffs on our exports and threatening not to defend us if we do not spend more on defense. That is not something that you expect from a partner. I therefore argue that the Trump presidency will provide the right incentive to seriously start thinking about defining our own European interests, independent of the US (and other regional powers). Also in the field of foreign, security and defense policy. Not by spending more on defense, but by pooling and sharing, dividing the work. And replace NATO as a collective defense organization (after the war in Ukraine) by a collective security organization that in term includes Ukraine and Russia, call it NATO 2.0 or OCSE Plus.

Tom Sauer is Professor in International Politics at the Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium. He has published ten books and dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles, mostly on nuclear arms control, as well as more than 250 op-eds. He is on the Board of Pax Christi Flanders, and the Flemish Peace Institute. He is member of the Scientific Committee of the International Institute of Peace (Vienna, Austria). Sauer has been a Research Fellow at Harvard University. He also received the Rotary Alumni Global Service Award.

- Intro Slides

- Recording of the talk by T. Sauer