Luis N. González Alonso's intervention was presented by Professor Cecilio Tamarit, director of the Centre de Documentació Europea UV, registered in the Fundación General de la Universitat de València, in the context of the activities organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Integration and Globalisation, and the cycle “The reasons for Europe”.

According to the Salamanca full university professor of Public International Law and International Relations, "for more than two decades, and to a much greater extent in the last five years, the debate on European defence has come to occupy a prominent place on the EU's political agenda. Progress in the development of this dimension of its foreign policy - certainly very relevant during this period - is often overshadowed or completely eclipsed, however, by the proliferation of all kinds of crises that compromise the Union's security and put its response capacity to the test".

On this point, he noted: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine appears to be marking a fundamental turning point in this regard and could represent a definite boost to the EU's aspiration to reinforce strategic autonomy".

González Alonso tried to answer questions such as whether the EU is in a position to face the challenge it now faces as a result of the war in Ukraine, at what level of ambition and with which security and defence policy.

Luis N. González Alonso
He is a full university professor on International Public Law and International Relations at the Universidad de Salamanca (USAL), director of the European Documentation Centre-Europe Direct of the USAL and general secretary of the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement.

He holds a degree and doctorate in Law from the Universidad de Salamanca with an extraordinary prize, and postgraduate studies at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium), where he obtained a Diploma in Advanced European Studies (Master in Law).

He was executive director of the Revista General de Derecho Europeo (Madrid, IUSTEL) between 2012 and 2021, and is a member of the Editorial Council of the Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo (Madrid, Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales); between 2003 and 2007 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Association of Professors of International Law and International Relations. He has been Director of the Master's Degree in EU Studies, Director of the Cooperation Office of the Universidad de Salamanca and member of the Development Cooperation Council of Castile and León.

He has directed four research projects within the framework of the National R&D&I Plan, all of them related to the EU's external action, and has participated in 12 other projects financed in competitive calls for proposals by the central and regional governments, private institutions such as the BBVA Foundation, and the European Commission.

He has carried out research stays and has been a guest lecturer at numerous national (some twenty Spanish universities) and foreign centres, including the European Commission in Brussels; the Institut d'Études Politiques (Sciences Po Grenoble, France), the Centre for the Study of International Governance (Loughborough University, United Kingdom); the Hungarian Judicial Council; the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua in León and the Universidad de Managua, both in Nicaragua; the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá); and the Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile).