EUFOG and ARENA Center for European Studies hold a panel discussion titled: “Is the EU replacing NATO?”

At the end of EUFOG’s two day event held on 26 - 27 of May 2026, the network organized a panel discussion in collaboration with ARENA Center for European Studies with the title Is the EU replacing NATO?

Photos by Tyra Kristiansen Stave/ UiO

“The European Union cannot replace NATO,” said Helene Sjursen, Research Professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies, during a panel debate organised by ARENA on 27 May, 2026.

“The European Union is nevertheless an important security actor. With regards to hybrid threats, the EU is in many ways better equipped than NATO to handle those issues,” she continued.

Sjursen explained that the EU has tools and procedures to handle for example economic coercion or destabilisation of democratic procedures.

“NATO has a more limited mandate, and is really about territorial defence,” she said.

Experts of different institutions convened to discuss European security and the future of NATO:

• Pol Morillas, Director of CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs)

• Patrick Müller, Professor for European Studies, Centre for European Integration Research (EIF), University of Vienna, and Vienna School for International Studies

• Karolina Pomorska, Associate professor, University of Leiden

• Helene Sjursen, Research Professor, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo

• Moderator: Jan Erik Grindheim, professor at USN

Watch the full panel discussion here.