Commentary
International Relations
Trump’s Second Term a Crossroads for Central Europe – COMMENTARY
6 November 2024
22 January 2020
Recent developments in Iran reminded us that the US needs Europe as much as Europe needs the US. Not even a superpower would want to go to war alone.
The latest NATO leaders’ meeting in London, in December, saw European heads question whether Europe needs transatlantic security. France’s President Emmanuel Macron openly claimed that the Alliance has experienced “brain death” and urged for European strategic sovereignty. While raising concern, these statements were quickly dismissed as conventional.
Many still believe that European security as a concept is hardly imaginable without a transatlantic link. Small countries with low military budgets cannot defend themselves without American support.
More so, without it, European security would become regionalised and fractured – as differences in perceptions and capabilities are ingrained in the East-West security divide.