The European Union is not known for its speed in taking decisions about its future.

Yet, this summit took a major step forward toward the much-touted completion and deepening of the Union, which many have sought

The 27 leaders agreed to create a “short-term” means to bolster the overall European defence industry through joint procurement.

The agreed, effectively, that the only way forward is to create a European arms procurement fund.

All Europeans appear to have realised that aside from being an economic superpower, the EU must also be a military power in order to maintain its current position in a rapidly and dramatically changing world.

A stronger EU is feasible only by bolstering collective security.

If Europe has learned one thing from the successive crises of the last decade, it is that the solutions to problems that it seeks are truly effective only when they are based on close cooperation between all the EU partners.