European Legal Studies Center Lunchtime Talks

Federico Fabbrini (Professor of EU Law at Dublin City University) will talk on "The European Common Army:defense and peace from the European Defense Community to the Trump era"

The European Legal Studies Center Lunchtime Talks

"The European Common Army:defense and peace from the European Defense Community to the Trump era"

A talk by

Federico Fabbrini

Thursday, March 26, 2026
12:10pm to 1:10pm
JGH 102

Please RSVP

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The issue of Europe’s defense is as old as the European integration project itself. In 1952, the six founding countries of what would later become the European Union attempted to build a common army through the EDC, the European Defence Community, which however never entered into force due to the reluctance of the French Parliament. More than seventy years later, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and, above all, Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States have once again brought to the fore the need for a common defense to ensure peace on our continent. But how should a European army be financed and organized? What tools does the Union have at its disposal to create it? And how does it differ from the rearmament plan presented by the European Commission? in his talk, based on a book recently published in Italian  (https://www.mulino.it/isbn/9788815395009 ), prof. Federico Fabbrini sheds light on a topic—European defense—which is central for transatlantic relations and the future of Europe.

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Federico Fabbrini is Full Professor of EU Law at Dublin City University in Ireland and, in spring semester 2026, a Fulbright Schuman Fellow in the International Security Program at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs.

Federico holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute and previously held academic appointments in the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Japan, Australia, and the United States—where he was a Fellow in Law & Public Policy at the School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton.

Federico is the Founding Director of the Brexit Institute & Dublin European Law Institute, and the author among others of 5 monographs with Oxford University Press, including “The EU Constitution in Time of War: Legal Responses to Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine” (2025).

His research during his fellowship focuses on European defense integration & transatlantic relations, in line with his project ALCIDE (Activating the Law Creatively to Integrate Defence in Europe).