Wim van Eekelen lecture 2026 - In Europe You Have to Know What You Want
Wim van Eekelen Lecture 2026
van Eekelen lecture during the annual “Kooy symposium” organised by the Royal Netherlands society of Engineers (KIVI) with partners Arte Pugnantibus Adsum (APA), the Royal Netherlands Association of Naval Offices (KVMO), Eurodefense Netherlands, Mars&Mercurius, the Applied Physics Laboratory (TNO) and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR).
The lecture is in memory of Dr. Wim van Eekelen,
who built an impressive track record over a 60-year period, consistently
prioritising the importance of national defence and European cooperation. His
motto in this regard was "We cannot do it alone". Dr. Van
Eekelen passed away in 2025 at the age of 94.
Under the title "Knowing What You
Want," Bart Groothuis argued that Europe must fundamentally revise
what it demands of itself militarily, now that the decades-long dependence on
the United States has become untenable. For years, the US functioned as the
central 'motherboard' into which European armed forces could plug their own
components, but due to shifting American priorities toward Asia and increased
unpredictability in Washington, this structure is no longer a given.
Although European member states
collectively spend nearly 400 billion euros on defence, several 'strategic
enablers' are missing, such as intelligence, air and missile defence, and
logistics. These are necessary—in addition to NATO requirements (NDPP)—to
be able to operate independently within a European context without the United
States and to win a conflict.
To bridge this gap, Groothuis advocated a
pragmatic approach instead of the usual, slow Brussels bureaucracy. He proposes
organising a large-scale exercise on the European eastern border without
American participation, in order to identify exactly which capabilities
Europe still lacks. The goal is not to break the transatlantic bond, but to
transform it from a one-sided dependency into an equal relationship. Only by standing
on its own feet militarily can Europe prevent becoming susceptible to
blackmail by foreign powers in other areas, such as technology and trade.
As a relatively small country compared to,
for example, France and Germany, the Netherlands can play a relevant role
in this with the help of the European Commission. The Commission does not only
listen to the interests of the large countries but specifically stands up for
smaller nations. But to achieve that, you have to know exactly what you want.
