A cautious Europe faces new realitiesPublished at 10:43 GMT
paul kirby
european digital editor
image source, Reuters“We are at a crossroads,” Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Tuesday.
For all Europeans, not just Danes and Greenlanders, President Trump’s intense focus on seizing control of Greenland calls into question the security and alliance with the United States that they have long taken for granted.
EU Executive Committee President Ursula von der Leyen tried to capture the mood in Strasbourg this morning, saying Europe needed to “accelerate its progress towards independence”.
The cold reality for Europeans is that they no longer feel they can take for granted the United States, which protects them from external threats. That may apply not only to the EU but also to the broader NATO alliance.
“We are at a crossroads,” she told the European Parliament. “We need a unique strategic approach.”
One of the challenges that the EU has always had to overcome is that it is made up of 27 democracies that do not always see eye to eye. As a result, they are often slow and cautious in responding to events.
Consider last year, when EU leaders appeared to be in limbo for weeks as U.S. financial support disappeared under the Trump administration and Ukraine’s financial needs became increasingly urgent.
After all, a 90 billion euro aid package was agreed last month, but Ukraine remains the EU’s biggest security challenge and there is no sign that Russia is ready to end its almost four-year all-out war.
“We need to move away from Europe’s traditional cautious approach,” von der Leyen warned. Although there is widespread agreement on this, there is no clear path to achieving it.
In the next few posts, we’ll take a closer look at how Ukraine fits into the growing unrest across Europe as President Trump ramps up his plans to own Greenland.