Berlin – ESI at Security Forum: Europe is stronger together

7 October 2025
Monument to the German Resistance in Berlin. Photo: flickr/Tammisto
Monument to the German Resistance in Berlin. Photo: flickr/Tammisto

ESI’s Gerald Knaus gave the keynote address at Konvent zur Digitalen Konvergenz in Berlin.  The convention is organized annually by the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Bonn. It is the leading event to bring together Germany’s security and defence industry, the German armed forces, and public security forces. This year’s themes were collective defence and resilience.

Gerald began by noting the extraordinary security transformation Europe has undergone over the past century. Borders over which two world wars were fought are now peaceful and porous thanks to the project of European integration. Still, nationalist conflict never truly disappeared, with frequent wars along Europe’s periphery from the Balkans to the Caucasus. Since 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has returned war to the centre of European politics. At the same time, nationalist movements inside Europe have intensified political confrontation and social polarisation. The result is a European security and political project which, despite its historical successes, faces unprecedented challenges.

Gerald argued that Europe’s answer to these challenges must be rooted in deepening both political and military integration. The European project, he noted, succeeded in ending long-standing territorial conflicts by embedding former rivals in common institutions. Together, these rivals became stronger than any single one could be on their own. The fundamentals behind this success remain valid today. Thus, by expanding and deepening European integration, Europe can not only build a defensive apparatus capable of defending itself against a revanchist Russia, but it can also reinforce a political order built on human rights, the rule of law, and the shared responsibility to defend peace.