Posts From Jon Pike
EU-NATO Defense Cooperation
Europe’s significant though incomplete security response to Russia’s war in Ukraine suggests that the achievement of European strategic autonomy exists on an extended timeline. In the near-term, deepened defense integration between the European Union (EU) and NATO will support capability modernization and interoperability while expanding European equipment procurement networks. The NATO 2022 Strategic Concept’s cooperative security provisions and the EU’s 2022 Strategic Compass provide a practical framework for strengthened EU-NATO cooperation.
The Afghanistan Withdrawal’s Impact on the EU’s Strategic Autonomy
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan throws the NATO alliance’s sustainability into a state of flux. European policymakers may pursue a more deliberate course toward strategic autonomy if they determine that America is no longer a credible partner. Some quarters consider independent European security to be an impractical overcorrection given Europe’s capability deficiencies. The withdrawal from Afghanistan provides the opportunity for transatlantic policymakers to reassess NATO’s strategic priorities.
Fidesz-Managed Foundations Assume Control of Hungary’s Higher Education System
Through a recent $1.7 billion allocation (comprised of government funds and various property assets) to the privately managed foundation, Mathias Corvinus Collegium (M.C.C.), Victor Orban has expanded the mandate of his governing party, Fidesz, to include the unilateral administration of Hungary’s university system. The immensity of the monetary transfer coupled with the deliberate inclusion of private, Fidesz adjacent interests represent the further consolidation of Orban’s autocratic power and jeopardize institutional legitimacy through unfettered kleptocratic corruption. Though the geopolitical implications cannot yet be quantified, the impact of Orban’s flagrant, politically motivated annexation of Hungarian higher education on capital markets and electoral politics could, potentially, be significant.
