I had the opportunity to join the research group ENSURE as a visiting researcher twice: once in October and November 2024, and again in May of this year. During these periods, I was able to make further progress on my Ph.D. thesis, Military Integration in Cyberspace, as a result of the enriching exchange within the research group – be it during lunch breaks, at afternoon coffees or in the Discussion Series. This scientific environment, shaped by group members from several EU Member States, was of great benefit to my research and made the stay unique on both a personal and academic level.
My thesis centers on the European security and defence integration process for cyberspace and takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining elements of political science and law. Based on a systematic analysis of theoretical models of European integration in the field of defence, a concrete mandate to establish European cyber forces is to be formulated in accordance with its political practicability in the EU Member States. At the legal level, the selected model must then be examined for its compatibility with both EU Treaty Law and German Constitutional Law. The research primarily focuses on exploring the scope and limits of the existing legal framework. The current geopolitical landscape continually demonstrates the practical relevance of this topic, which is becoming increasingly apparent in the growing involvement of cyberspace in conflict resolution.
The interpretation of European primary law, especially Art. 42 TEU, was also discussed at the ENSURE Discussion Series on 16 October 2024. There, I presented a new approach to interpreting the term defence in European law. This term, however, is not defined in the EU treaties. Article 42(2) Sentence 2 TEU merely states that the European Council can decide to implement a common defence. Whether the deployment of the EU’s armed forces in cyberspace can be subsumed under this term depends largely on its scope.
Another outcome of my first research stay was a contribution to the Völkerrechtsblog, which was published in November 2024. This blog post examines how the 2024 European Parliament elections will affect the future integration process of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). In larger EU Member States such as France and Italy right-wing nationalist and populist parties with an anti-EU tendency have won the elections. However, this outcome is not aligned with the European Commission’s efforts to achieve deeper integration in the defence sector. The post addresses this dilemma of conflicting interests.
I am very grateful for all the academic and social experiences I had during both research stays. Finally, I would like to thank the entire team, and particularly Carolyn Moser as the research group leader, for giving me the opportunity to be part of ENSURE project.
Kassandra Langguth studied Law at Humboldt University in Berlin, with exchanges in Leuven (Belgium) and Aberdeen (Scotland), focusing on European and Public International Law. Currently in her third year of doctoral studies at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, she joined ENSURE as a visiting researcher in October/November 2024 and again in May 2025.