LEDU

Legal Dimension of a European Defense Union

Prof. Markus Kotzur, Faculty of Law, European and International Public Law (UHH)

Dr. Gesa Kübek, Faculty of Law, Department for European and Economic Law (UG)

Funding Term: 2022 – 2023

Since the rejection of the European Defense Union (EDU) in 1956 by the French Assembly, there was little incentive to deepen European integration in the field of defense. War in Europe had become, as Robert Schuman envisaged, ‘unthinkable’. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has created new political momentum for establishing a EDU. Against that background, the first Joint Hamburg-Groningen Workshop, held at the Europakolleg Hamburg in 2023, will discuss the “Legal Dimension of a European Defense Union” (LEDU). The LEDU project aims to bring together academics and (military) practitioners. Ideally, the workshop will be the first in an annual series of events on European Defense, ultimately leading to a Northern European Defense Law Network.