For the ancient Romans, Europe was not a periphery, but the beating heart of their world. It was the homeland and, at the same time, the frontier, the axis of civilisation and the limit to be protected. The legions deployed along the Rhine and Danube were not limited to containing barbarian incursions; they embodied the defence of a profound idea: a universal order centred on Rome, whose legitimacy was based on the security of the peoples and the continuity of civilisation itself.
Although the word ‘Europe’ did not yet have its modern meaning, the empire already understood a fundamental principle: there can be no civilisation without borders, nor borders without the will to defend them. This insight encapsulates the root of Roman power and, with due proportion, the strategic knot that today’s Europe is called upon to unravel.
Today, in a world shaken by open wars, hybrid threats and new forms of imperialism, one question resonates urgently: who defends Europe?
The answer that is emerging with increasing strength – also thanks to Italian leadership – is clear: Europe must once again defend itself. It is not a matter of disengaging from allies, but of becoming a credible partner again. Not to give up NATO, but to make it more balanced, robust and equal. In a word: more Western in the broadest sense.
It is in this direction that Giorgia Meloni‘s proposal moves: to build a true ‘European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance’. Not an alternative to the American pillar, but a component finally able to bear the weight of its own security.
This view was formally accepted in the conclusions of the European Council of 26-27 June, where the war in Ukraine was described as an ‘existential challenge for the European Union’. The term is not accidental, but marks a conceptual turning point: Europe rediscovers itself as a subject to be actively defended, not just as an area to be passively administered.
In her speech, Meloni expressed it clearly: ‘Without defence there is no security, without security there is no freedom, and without security and freedom there cannot be prosperity and welfare either.’
This statement marks the recovery of an integral vision of sovereignty. The economy alone is not enough, nor is bureaucratic integration. Without an identity capable of self-defence, the Union risks remaining fragile, subordinate and dependent.
For this reason, the European pillar of NATO – supported by the Italian government – has a dual function: strategic and cultural. Strategic, because it aims to build a solid, interoperable European military industry with autonomous logistical capabilities. Cultural, because it implies the recovery of a collective consciousness: that of still being a civilisation that deserves to be defended. A civilisation rooted – as made explicit in the FdI political programme – in its classical and Judaeo-Christian roots, which must be reaffirmed today more than ever.
In this passage, one can see a lucid line of ideal continuity with Rome, where the legions protected not only borders, but peoples, and the concept of defence was inextricably linked to that of responsibility.
Even today, the concept of European defence extends far beyond the mere horizon of war. Meloni makes it clear: we are talking about investments on every front of hybrid threats: from energy security to cybersecurity, from the protection of external borders to the fight against terrorism, via the safeguarding of critical infrastructure. It is the new global strategy of an ‘Empire without empire’, where sovereignty is not exercised over conquered territories, but over interests shared by free peoples.
And Italy, due to its location, its history and its newfound credibility, is today the natural pivot of this transformation.
The line outlined by Giorgia Meloni at the European Council is not an extemporaneous position or the consequence of an emergency. It is the consistent implementation of a well-stated political vision, present since the election programme that led Fratelli d’Italia to victory in 2022, and reaffirmed in the 2024 European elections .
The following lines, more relevant today than ever before, already enunciated a foreign policy based on the protection of the national interest, full respect for alliances and the defence of the fatherland as a prerequisite for all freedom:
- “Italy must become a protagonist again in Europe, in the Mediterranean and in the international chessboard.”
- “Promoting common EU defence policies and the establishment of a ‘European pillar’ of NATO.”
The diplomatic and strategic action carried out by the government – from the European pillar of NATO to the centrality of the Mediterranean, from the Mattei Plan to border security – is not a later invention, but the orderly application of a long-term vision.
There is something profoundly consistent, and perhaps even symbolic, in the fact that the Conference for the Reconstruction of Ukraine will be held in Rome in a few days’ time. In the eternal city – where the idea that force is not domination, but responsibility was forged – European leaders will return to talk not only about peace, but also and above all about security and freedom.
Rome returns to the centre. Not for nostalgia, but for function. Not as the capital of a lost empire, but as the beating heart of a civilisation that wants to defend itself, regain autonomy and courage.
European defence is not just a budgetary issue, nor a technicality for diplomatic fora. It is an anthropological, cultural and spiritual choice. It is a sign that Europe – like Rome once was – does not resign itself to being a passive entity in history, but intends to write it again.
So yes: defending oneself is not just a duty. It is an act of identity.
