2020 will have been marked by several crises in Europe, beyond the Covid-19 crisis, many of them being linked to the ambitions of the Turkish government in the Mediterranean basin and in the Caucasus. But where in 2019, Europe was still trying to present a united front and the ambition to move towards the creation of a Europe of Defense and a European Strategic Autonomy, these crises of 2020 will have highlighted the deep differences between many European countries on this subject, and more particularly between Paris and Berlin, although until now the driving forces behind this initiative.
The aftermath of the NATO summit in London
The start of the year was already particularly difficult for the Europeans, following the serious tensions between France, the United States and the rest of the Europeans over the Turkish case. The French President in fact attracted the wrath of many European chancelleries, but also of Washington, when he declared on the subject of Turkey that NATO was in a state of brain death on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London in December 2019. France was on the front line against Ankara, whether in Syria alongside the Kurds, or in the Eastern Mediterranean alongside Nicosia. But the Europeans hardly shared the French president's observation , marking a first major break in the unity of the European front in matters of Defense.
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