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From the early 1950s until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain the European security architecture was defined by two alliances - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact - confronting each other. The end of the East-West confrontation in the late 1980s led to the dissolution of the latter and thereafter to the eastern expansion of NATO to include Central and Eastern European countries.In order to accommodate Russia, the Western Alliance set up among other schemes in 2002 the NATO-Russia Council and in 1995 the CSCE had become the OSCE including NATO countries and all succession countries of the former Soviet Union.Russia´s unprovoked large scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022 destroyed this existing pan-European security cooperation. The foundations of the existing European security architecture were shattered. Russia war in Ukraine is reawakening old traumas, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Security concerns in the region have grown, and the desire for a strong military presence of NATO at its eastern borders.

It is not yet clear when and how Russia´s War on Ukraine will end, but it will have – without any doubt - serious consequences for Euro-Atlantic security. Are we at the outset of a new Cold War in Europe?Since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, we have been witnessing some important changes in not only European but also national foreign, security and defence policies. In the past, Europeans often appeared reluctant to coordinate their national foreign, security and defence policies. The Ukraine crisis, however, has elicited a strong, unified response from the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and their member states as never before. To put pressure on the Kremlin and bring the war to an end, the EU, in close coordination with its North American allies, has adopted unprecedented measures including a series of sanctions and providing lethal weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian aggression.

The war in Ukraine represents an important opportunity for Europe to strengthen its common security and address defence capability shortfalls. A new security architecture is emerging from this crisis in which the EU and NATO should seek not only to complement, but also to mutually reinforce one another. They must also keep working together to protect the common values and principles both organizations stand for.What must Europe and NATO prepare for in the long run? What impact will Russia´s war have especially on Central and Eastern European countries? What is needed to strengthen their security and what will be their role in a new European security architecture?

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