The expert pointed to the formation of a new strategic thinking in Europe.

In the context of the formation of a multipolar world, new strategic thinking is emerging in Europe, and ignoring this fact would be wrong and even dangerous, HSE analyst Tigran Meloyan tells Izvestia.

Weapons surcharge: the EU has approved a plan to strengthen the union's defense

This will hit the economy of the association — the amount required for rearmament is four times its annual budget.

"French President Emmanuel Macron has already expressed his willingness to discuss the integrated European nuclear umbrella, which is considered one of the important signs of an epochal tectonic shift in the vision of European security. The Europeans preferred to follow the path of putting forward their own proposals rather than following their main ally, the United States," he said.

In his opinion, the emergence of a stronger and strategically independent Europe is quite possible, but it will cost European countries a lot of resources, effort and time, "while the Ukrainian issue is being resolved here and now."

"The EU, even together with the UK, does not have such financial opportunities right now, even at the cost of cutting social spending, which will undoubtedly trigger a change of power," the expert explained.

He recalled that the largest European countries have unsecured pension obligations amounting to several hundred percent of GDP. Given the low demographics and rising defense spending, the situation in the EU is "increasingly looking like a slide into disaster," he concluded.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Clan or Gone: The West forms new alliances within NATO