The terrorist attacks in the heart of Europe challenged the EU values – democracy, supremacy of the law and tolerance. The Continent’s citizens are concerned about their safety and many tend to turn to nationalistic and populist formations. In order to respond, the EU is about to finalize its Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy which is to be voted at the June summit.

“This document shouldn’t be a product of Brussels’ bureaucracy, in order to be successful. That is why there are a total of 14 discussions across EU member-states,” Head of the EU Institute for Security Studies Antonio Missiroli stated yesterday at the opening of the discussion forum in Sofia. In his words, the European should take care of more defense funding, as the fight with terrorism and cybersecurity are subjects that we can cope with only together, added to the topics of migration and border security.

Security turns into a subject whenever it is endangered. A relatively long period didn’t handle the issue and a strategy was not necessary. During the Cold War period Europe was part of a two-pole model with clear borders and its safety was guaranteed by the nuclear umbrella of the USA. “That was a balanced model,” says sociologist Ognyan Minchev from the Institute for Regional and International Studies in Sofia.

Prof. Dinko Dinkov from the International relations Dept. of Sofia’s University of Economy says that the EU faces the strong need to reconsider the realities of today’s world. “If it neglects those, the EU is on its way to create another senseless document,” Prof. Dinkov says and adds:

“The EU is anything but a security union. We need to think over what is happening inside the community before developing a new global strategy for the next 10 – 15 years. The forefathers provided a frame and today’s generations are ready to overthrow their ideas on a refusal of a national country. This is the greatest European idea, but it has also brought many bad things and cataclysms. We don’t dare to say that out loud, especially now when all kinds of national egoism can be spotted across Europe.”

Some Bulgarian experts say Europe now faces the reconsideration of the leftist – rightist political categories. Conservators and nationalists are brought back to life every time when security is endangered. However, the danger for Europe now lies with the fact that their place in the political debate is taken today by fierce populists. At the same time the building of walls and isolation of national states attacks only the consequences, but not the reasons for this increased insecurity across Europe.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev