The podcast
untangling
the EU

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EU Untangled helps you make sense of the ball of yarn that is EU policies and politics. We ask simple questions and turn answers into digestible bits so you can understand what’s going on behind the headlines.

We are an independent, Brussels-based podcast.

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Can the EU have an army? EU Untangled

The European Union is a powerhouse in many ways – a shared market, a common currency, and a united front on everything from climate policy to consumer protection. But when it comes to defence, things get murky. Despite its origins as a peace project after two world wars, the EU lacks a unified defence policy or an army of its own. Why is that? And could or should that ever change? In this episode of EU Untangled, Ionela Ciolan, research officer at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, outlines the current security threats to the EU and what should be done to address them. She also highlights the challenges of the European defence industry and answers whether the EU should have its own army.
  1. Can the EU have an army?
  2. What is a Spitzenkandidat?
  3. The three towers: how many seats to rule them all?