This issue explores Europe's need for more female soldiers, the impending energy crisis as a result of the war in the Middle East, how the EU is falling behind in space, and much more.
Europe is once again bracing for an energy crisis it didn’t instigate.
As this magazine was going to print, Donald Trump’s war with Iran had lurched from escalation to an uneasy ceasefire. The shock it sent through oil-and-gas markets over the last six weeks, however, won’t be easily reversed.
Europe’s reliance on Middle Eastern energy is often framed in economic terms. But it’s also a question of security. The continent’s dependence undermines its already fragile defense capacity as the transatlantic alliance continues to fray.
This month’s cover story approaches that same fragility from a different angle, but with a similar question in mind: who, exactly, will defend Europe in the years ahead?
As governments move to rearm, they are running up against a basic constraint. Europe’s militaries are not only under-equipped after years of underinvestment — they are under-staffed. Demographics are tightening, recruitment is faltering, and the traditional pool of recruits is too small for the scale of today’s ambitions.
Across NATO, women account for just 13.9% of military personnel. The figure has improved, but not fast enough.
The argument, as Paula Soler reports, is not ideological but practical. “Excluding half of the population from contributing to national defense only weakens overall capacity,” as one analyst said. In an era where warfare depends increasingly on technical expertise, the barriers are less physical than institutional.
Those institutions have been slow to adapt. Women remain underrepresented not only in operational roles but in the senior ranks where strategy is set. Structural barriers — from career progression to work-life balance to entrenched cultural assumptions — still limit both recruitment and retention.
The objective is not simply to recruit more female soldiers, as Paula reports, but to build forces that are more resilient and capable. The slow pace of change demonstrates once again that as external threats multiply, Europe’s reticence to harness its own resources is its biggest obstacle to so-called strategic autonomy.
— Christopher Alessi, Editor-in-Chief