DEMOCRATIZING EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENSE
RETHINKING IT TOGETHER
Representing the second phase of a targeted dialogue series that began in Rome on December 5, 2025, the IIP organized a conference designed to bridge the widening gap between security-sector decision-makers and the European public. The program featured two closed workshops focusing on questions: “What Are We Defending? Threats to European Society” and “How Are We Defending? Regional Responses to Security Issues in Europe.”
The public event explored the evolving requirements for European defense in an era defined by fractured alliances and unprecedented internal polarization, moving beyond technical military metrics to identify the shared values, economic realities, and societal structures necessary to sustain a resilient security architecture.
The conference was organized in cooperation with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the European Council on Foreign Relations (Rome Office), the Polish Academy of Sciences, the European University Institute (Florence), and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Austria.
CONFERENCE REPORT
EVENT
INTERVIEWS
INNA MELNYKOVSKA, Assistant Professor at the Political Science Department at CEU
HEINZ GÄRTNER, Chair of the Advisory Board at the International Institute for Peace (IIP)
ANNA GEVORGYAN, Researcher at the Center for Culture and Civilization Studies Foundation
VEDRAN DŽIHIĆ, Senior Researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip)