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A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it.***Speaking at the European Economic Congress last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on Europe to increase its defense capabilities in the next five years so that “no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it.” At the same conference, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also called for increased European defense budgets and the appointment of a European Union defense commissioner. We asked three experts to weigh in on these comments and the state of European defense.Read more below.Gesine Weber Visiting Scholar Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies Columbia UniversityEuropean defense has made a quantum leap in the last two years: The European defense industry has ramped up its production, new instruments such as the Act in Support of Ammunition Production and the European Defense Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act have allowed the European Union to centralize production, and the new defense industrial strategy finally sets out the course for underpinning ambitions with capabilities. And while Europeans have shown that they can take an important share of the burden in the defense of the continent, much more still has to be done for Europeans to be able to defend themselves. Europeans not only need capabilities, but they also need to enhance their compatibility — and a truly European defense industry to match their defense needs. To incentivize the industry to produce European, both a massive push in funding and sustainable funding are needed. Thanks to its instruments and coordination mechanism, the European Union is the best place to start