Repair, replace, reimburse: Sustaining a European tank coalition for Ukraine
Military help for Ukraine is moving towards serious questions of logistics – but more countries still need to step forward. Here is how the next-stage coalition could look.
Experts & Staff
Rafael Loss
Coordinator for Pan-European Data Projects
Areas of expertise
German and European foreign and security policy; European integration; transatlantic relations; nuclear policy
Languages
German, English
Biography
Rafael Loss is the coordinator for pan-European data projects of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Re:shape Global Europe project, which seeks to develop new strategies for Europeans to understand and engage with the changing international order. He also works on German and European foreign policy, security and defence, climate policy, transatlantic relations, and nuclear policy and arms control.
Prior to joining ECFR in 2020, Loss was a research associate at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. His essays and analyses have appeared in Internationale Politik Quarterly, War on the Rocks, and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, among others.
Loss was a Fulbright fellow at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where he earned an MA in international relations. He also holds a BA in political science from the University of Bremen.
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The role of Germany in Europe in times of war: Potential for German-Bulgarian cooperation
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The Leopard plan: How European tanks can help Ukraine take back its territory
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European Sovereignty Index
The EU can overcome the new challenges it faces and can shape the global order. To achieve this, Europeans will need to improve their joint capacity to act.
Europe listens…Dr Togzhan Kassenova
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Publications
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
Member states are not divided into two diametrically opposed camps. This makes the implementation of the European Green Deal an intricate puzzle – yet achievable.
The crisis that made the European Union: European cohesion in the age of covid
The pandemic poses a threat to European cohesion by increasing economic divides and undermining trust in the EU and national governments
Articles
Repair, replace, reimburse: Sustaining a European tank coalition for Ukraine
Military help for Ukraine is moving towards serious questions of logistics – but more countries still need to step forward. Here is how the next-stage coalition could look.
How to defeat Russia and prevent nuclear armageddon with one weird trick
We are not on a path to nuclear war – but strong deterrence measures from the West can help ensure that scenario remains unlikely
The Leopard plan: How European tanks can help Ukraine take back its territory
Ukraine needs to move to a new phase of the war if it is to reclaim its territory occupied by Russia. A European plan to supply Leopard tanks should be at the heart of this effort.
The cold man of Europe: Germany’s energy emergency
Decades of wilfully blind dependence on Russian gas have left Germany facing a bleak winter. German leaders could now have an opportunity to begin repairing the damage.
Staying power: How the EU can support NATO in eastern Europe
NATO should deter Russia by establishing a truly permanent presence in front-line states. The EU has a major role to play in this effort.
War and sovereignty: How the EU can enhance its ability to act
The EU has made insufficient progress in enhancing its sovereignty, particularly in security and defence. The union now needs to overcome internal differences to bolster its external ability to act.
How Germany can sustain its policy revolution
The revolution in defence funding and energy policy that Germany recently announced should be accompanied by an intellectual awakening
Why the war in Ukraine could reshape the European nuclear order
Another Russian attack on Ukraine would jeopardise talks between Washington and Moscow on strategic stability and a follow-on agreement to New START
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Specials
European Sovereignty Index
The EU can overcome the new challenges it faces and can shape the global order. To achieve this, Europeans will need to improve their joint capacity to act.
EU Cohesion Monitor
European cohesion is bouncing back after crisis years. The EU Cohesion Monitor presents new insights on cohesion as an underestimated source of strength and collective action in the EU.
EU Coalition Explorer
The Coalition Explorer illustrates the expert opinions of more than 800 respondents who work on European policy and creates a visual understanding of the views held by Europe’s professional political class
European Solidarity Tracker
The European Solidarity Tracker collects and displays instances of pan-European solidarity throughout the coronavirus crisis
Podcasts
Europe listens…Dr Togzhan Kassenova
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Lead time: How Germany should move on from Merkel | Episode 1 – Climate Policy
Whoever wins the election, the next German government must approach climate action more systematically and in a more sustained fashion
Events
8 Nov
The role of Germany in Europe in times of war: Potential for German-Bulgarian cooperation
We will discuss Germany’s role in Europe and will reflect on how the new European order is viewed in Berlin
1 Jul
Carbon border adjustment design: Opportunities for international cooperation
This Policy Dialogue will consider international reactions to the competing policy designs for CBAM, opportunities for cooperation with international partners and the role of international fora in its development such as the WTO and the forthcoming COP26
14 Jun
Deutschland vor der Wahl – Einschätzungen aus der Perspektive internationaler Politik
Der Checkpoint EXTRA findet als Kooperation zwischen der bpb und dem Berliner Büro des European Council on Foreign Relations statt
In the media
One of the messages they regularly intend to send is that NATO is able to do things that Russia is not
Rafael Loss discusses how NATO exercises signal the alliance resolve
If you doubt America’s commitment to Europe, you also have to tolerate doubt in Germany’s commitment to Eastern Europe
Rafael Loss revisits Berlin’s refusal to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine without the US
The Covid pandemic demonstrated the fragility of global supply chains
Rafael Loss describes the difficulties of ramping up European arms production
We failed to increase production already last year
Rafael Loss argues that anticipatory action could have mitigated Ukraine’s current ammunition
If Europeans fail in their collective effort to mobilise even 62 Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine […] it would be nothing less than a declaration of strategic bankruptcy
Gustav Gressel, Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin being quoted on their Leopard Plan