Jean Monnet Module

The course focuses on the European Union’s so-called “Sustainability Trilemma”, which results from the competing pressures to advance defence integration, achieve strategic autonomy, and preserve internal social cohesion. Although today’s geopolitical landscape demands a more militarized and autonomous Europe, the fiscal and social costs of this transition risk alienating its citizens. In this context, the prospect of the Union’s security and defence integration is examined through the lens of the fact that the long-term legitimacy of the European project depends increasingly on how emerging hard power can be reconciled with the foundations of soft power and the European Pillar of Social Rights