Ursula von der Leyen and war as a business model

It's always reassuring to know that the EU has a vision. A vision for the future. A vision for Europe. And this vision sounds something like this: If the economy falters, we simply build more weapons. That's called innovation. Or, in the words of Ursula von der Leyen: "We must tear down the rigid barrier between the civilian and defense sectors."

That's remarkably honest. In the past, at least, people tried to pretend that cars were for families, airplanes for travel, and machines for production. Today we learn that all of these are actually just misunderstood precursors to the defense industry. Small and medium-sized enterprises, the automotive industry, mechanical engineering – all potentially just a somewhat too peacefully minded part of the military ecosystem.

In other words, the same political apparatus that for years crippled European industry with regulations, climate targets, and regulatory experiments has now suddenly discovered a new passion for this industry. Not because it's supposed to secure jobs or create prosperity, but because it's perfectly suited to becoming part of the "defense value chain"—a term so technical that one almost forgets what it's really about: weapons production.

This is the moment the mask falls. Industry isn't saved, it's repurposed. Producers of mobility become producers of military infrastructure. Engineers become cogs in a system that suddenly no longer relies on growth through innovation, but on growth through threat.

Because this is the logic no one dares to voice: An economy based on arms requires demand. And demand doesn't arise from peace. Weapons are the only product whose existence depends on the world remaining insecure. Or being made insecure.

The US has perfected this model: a permanent security situation, a permanent threat, a permanent justification for ever-increasing expenditures, ever-new programs, ever-new "necessities." And Europe seems determined to follow the same path—only with better PR and moral veneer.

Ursula von der Leyen speaks of "tearing down the dividing wall." What she really means is tearing down the last illusion that Europe is a purely civilian project. The boundary between economic strength and military power is to disappear. Not as a side effect, but as a strategy.

And suddenly everything makes sense. The crisis rhetoric. The constant emphasis on threats. The preparation of the population for "new realities." An economy geared towards defense needs a population that accepts defense as a permanent state of affairs.

This is not security policy. This is a business model.

And like any business model, it primarily needs one thing: continuity…

Ursula von der Leyen and war as a business model