Europe’s new defense chief: ‘A king without a kingdom’?

As some EU countries are becoming skeptical of further large support for Ukraine, the motivation to come up with the money may only wane, said Ed Arnold, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank centered on security. He said he was skeptical that the defense commissioner would have the scope to make an impact on Europe’s military strategy. As ever, he said, a lot will depend on political will, and not just the funding. “There’s a disconnect between the stated ambition you get initially and the hard reality of when you actually have to get member states’ approval,” he said.