News Excerpt:

The governments of Weimar Triangle including  Poland, France and Germany vowed  to make Europe a security and defence power with a greater ability to back Ukraine.

About Weimar Triangle  

• It was established in the German city of Weimar in 1991, aimed at assisting Poland's emergence from Communist rule as a platform for political cooperation among the three nations and  to identify shared fundamental interests regarding Europe’s future and to extend cross-border cooperation. 
• In a 10-point declaration, the ministers underscored the major responsibility the three countries shoulder for the European integration process. 
• Historic milestones since then include in particular Poland joining both NATO (1999) and the European Union (2004).

Why the need to revitalize now:

• Apprehensions of Trump being back in white house whose has historically taken a tough stance towards NATO asking them to pay for the defence bills in return of security guarantee.
• Putin expected to be back in office post presidential elections in Moscow with a clear majority.
• Russia-Ukraine  war result not going as per Nato and need of further increase in military spending to support ukraine.
• Israel-Hamas war and unrest in Middle east with turmoil in west asia increasing due to Iran backed militia organisations like Houthis taking military actions US attention is diverted away from Europe.
• To fight disinformation: France, Germany and Poland would unveil a new cooperation agreement to combat foreign disinformation operations, particularly those originating in Russia.

Challenges:

• Historically lack of political consensus: The parties were split over the Iraq war and proved totally dysfunctional when it came to the controversies over the Lisbon Treaty.
• Economic constraints: Post Covid  capacity to spend on military expenses is limited due to Europe battling slowdown.    
• NORD 2 stream : Dependence of Europe, especially Germany on Russia for oil and gas supply.