E5 nations meet in Rome to discuss European defense

The European Defense Roundtable, organized by the Munich Security Conference and the Istituto Affari Internazionali, held its fourth meeting in Rome at Palazzo Orsini. The initiative brings together high-level representatives from governments, armed forces, academia, and industry from five key nations: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

This informal group, referred to as the E5, aims to promote European defense cooperation outside the traditional and often slow institutional mechanisms of the EU and NATO. The format allows for the inclusion of the United Kingdom, which is no longer an EU member. Wolfgang Ischinger, president of the Munich Security Conference, noted that the group focuses on leveraging the significant political, military, and industrial weight of these five countries to build a stronger European defense base.