Since 2022, the EU has taken a number of steps to respond to the changed geopolitical situation. However, traditional lines of conflict continue to pose challenges to the further development of the CSDP. In the free-content article in issue 2/26 of integration, Julian Plottka examines the extent to which Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has led to a shift in European Strategic culture.
Laura Christoph and Laura Worsch have developed three scenarios for the parallel accession processes of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. In response to the erosion of the rules-based international order, Christian Moos argues in favour of a European federal state.
Another key focus of this issue is the EU’s climate and environmental policy. Using the example of EU hydrogen policy, Nils Bruch highlights the ambiguity in European climate governance. Thomas M. Klotz examines the extent to which party-political positions diverge at national and EU level, drawing on the failed ‘Sustainable Use Regulation’ initiative aimed at reducing the use of pesticides across the EU.
In the literature section, Hasso Rieck reviews the “France Yearbook 2024”, which examines the processes of transformation in European energy and climate policy from a Franco-German perspective.
Between International Law and Geopolitics – Limited Change in European Strategic Culture since 2022
Julian Plottka
Since 2022, defence policy in some Member States and within the European Union (EU) itself has undergone a fundamental transformation. In the past, the weak development of the Common Security and Defence Policy has often been attributed to the absence of a shared Strategic Culture. Prior to 2022, only few elements of a weak Strategic Culture were evident at EU level. To examine whether the Russian invasion has led to a shift in the EU’s Strategic Culture, this paper conducts a Qualitative Content Analysis of all European Council conclusions between 2022 and 2025. A mixed picture emerges: national defence as an objective, a growing importance of the military dimension and concrete military expectations of Member States point to a shift compared to the EU’s Strategic Culture as described in previous research, while the emphasis on international law, the use of a multidimensional toolbox and the anchoring of its own actions within international coalitions point to continuity.
Decarbonization without Defossilization? Ambiguity in the Climate Governance of the European Union for Hydrogen
Nils Bruch
The European Union (EU) aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. However, the case of hydrogen illustrates that EU climate policy is characterised by a tension between two climate policy paradigms. Decarbonisation follows an emissions-centred regulatory logic that does not categorically exclude fossil-based technologies. In contrast, defossilisation implies a disruptive transformation of the fossil energy system. This article analyses how these climate policy paradigms appear in the EU legal frame-work for hydrogen, and which factors explain their manifestation. While defossilisation is prioritised at the strategic level, key policy instruments (e.g. the EU Emissions Trading System and fuel standards) do not rule out the use of fossil energy. This ambiguity entails risks but may also function as a feature of European climate governance by linking ambitious climate targets with legal feasibility and political compromise.
The Sustainable Use Regulation initiative as a stress test for common European environmental and agricultural policy
Thomas M. Klotz
In 2022, the European Commission proposed the so-called Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR) to replace the existing directive on the use of pesticides. Among other elements, the proposal included an overall reduction in pesticide use by 50 percent until 2030. During the negotiations within the European Parliament, the proposal was diluted. As a result, its original supporters withdrew their approval, and the European Commission fully withdrew the proposal in May 2024. Thus, an EU-wide reform aimed at reducing pesticide use failed. Nevertheless, some member states adopted the SUR targets to establish their own national pesticide policies, while others suspended their pesticide policies or even lowered their targets. This paper examines the role of party-political positioning at both the European and national levels in the legislative period 2019–2024 and demonstrates that these positions do not necessarily align. This implies that stricter pesticide policy is not necessarily dependent on the partisan orientation of the national government.
Relationship Status Complicated – Scenarios for the EU Accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova
Laura Christoph and Laura Worsch
Since the European Council granted Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova the accession candidate status, the two countries have been seen as a couple in their integration process towards the European Union (EU). This is reflected in parallel decisions to open negotiations as well as synchronous plans in their individual growth plans. The article presents arguments in favour and against the coupling in current political discourses. It outlines scenarios for the accession process of both countries: While a continued parallel accession path would pose a strong geopolitical signal, a “decoupling” becomes more likely the longer the EU is unable to solve internal blockages by individual Member States towards Ukraine’s accession. Furthermore, it is crucial to maintain the merit-based principle of EU integration. Thus, gradual integration offers a pragmatic middle ground between strict coupling and complete decoupling. The article examines the political implications of each scenario and gives strategic recommendations.
Europe and the Chimera of the Rules‑Based International Order
Christian Moos
The article argues that the so‑called rules-based international order is not a natural state but a historically contingent product of U.S. power. Its effectiveness has always depended on America’s willingness and capacity to guarantee and enforce rules; beyond that sphere, its reach remained limited. With the rise of China, the relative withdrawal of the United States, and increasing multipolarity, this order is steadily eroding, while the United Nations functions more as a reflection than a shaper of global power relations. The current EU, meanwhile, clings to the illusion that the post‑1945 order can simply be sustained by political voluntarism and rationalist assumptions. In a world of systemic rivalry and regional conflict, Europe’s weakness becomes evident. The EU lacks both the necessary capabilities and strategic unity. The author therefore calls for a fundamental institutional shift: the creation of a federal European polity with an effective executive, a common foreign and security policy, and a genuine “Grand Strategy”. Only a politically unified Europe can safeguard its interests, contribute to global stability, and avoid becoming an object of external power politics.
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