" An admiring assistant, who sang his praises, asked Federico Fellini one year before his death: "Master, don't you believe that Europe is at risk of falling into decadence?" He gave a definite reply: "Young man, Europe's decadence began when the Roman Empire fell!" Without attempting to match the flamboyant dialectic of the great Italian director and writer, the hosts of the Economic Defence Council and the authors of Eurodefence present analyses and proposais, aiming to show that beyond the vicissitudes of negotiations and treaties or letting things drift away, European economies and civilisations can only daim to play their worldwide rote in the 21st century if they are able to construct their life insurance together: their security and their defence. It is France's rote to initiate, in a group of countries "who want it and can do it," constructive reflection on a security and defence project, taking inspiration from the example of the euro in the monetary domain ". Philippe Esper

Agrégé professor in economics, Christian de Boissieu is President of the Economic Analysis Council for the Prime Minister. Graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in sciences, former high commissioner for atomic energy, Bernard Bigot is the general administrator of the Atomic Energy Commission. Engineer of armament and former Director-General of civil aviation, Michel Scheller is President of the Aeronautic and Astronautic Association of France. Diplomat and former European Commissioner, Yves-Thibault de Silguy is President of Vinci. Philippe Esper is President of the international council company Eurotradia and President of the Defence Economic Council.