LONDON – Even before the extraordinary oval office between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Voldymee Zelensky was destroyed, relations between Washington and Europe were dramatically frayed.
Now – It is not clear what will happen to the return of the Trans-Atlantic Alliance, which has been built over the past 80 years, after the diplomatic collapse on Friday between Ukrainian president and vice president JD Vance.
European leaders lined up to support Zelensky with an effective responsibilities to Trump.
Zelenskyy’s “Dignity respects the courage of the people of Ukrainians,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X. You are never alone, dear President Zelensky. We will continue to work together with you for just and lasting peace. ”
Germany’s next leader, Friedrich Merz, wrote, “Never confuse invaders with victims in this terrible war.” French President Emmanuel Macron said it is essential to respect Ukrainians.
Perhaps most surprising, European Union Foreign Minister Kaha Karas said, “Today it has become clear that the free world needs a new leader. It is up to the Europeans to take this challenge.”
Of course, not everyone agreed. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban posted at a “difficult” oval office meeting that Trump “was bravely for peace.” And other observers denounced Zelensky for his role in the exchange, saying that he unnecessary and publicly raised the temperature with a much more senior negotiation partner he relies on.
But for Zelenskyy’s supporters, these Europeans are extremely passionate defending Ukraine as they see more than a raging Chinese conflict in the frigid areas of Eastern Europe.
Putin’s invasion is part of a much larger hybrid war, from the Ukrainian battlefield to cyberattacks on Western democracy. They only burn Russia to spread this attack elsewhere, fearing that they would give the Kremlin a symbolic victory in Ukraine. Doubled, when they accused Trump of barracking allies, working with Putin to undermine the allies and vilifying them widely in Europe as war criminals.
The intensity of this sentiment explains why transatlantic relations were split before Friday’s diplomatic scene. In fact, there have been an increasing number of indications over the past few weeks that European powers have finally decided to free themselves from postwar dependence on the United States.
“My absolute priority is to strengthen Europe as soon as possible, so in stages we can truly achieve independence from the United States,” said Merz after his central right Christian Democratic Union Party won the German election on Sunday. He wondered whether NATO’s June summit would “see alliances in its current form or should we establish an independent European defensive capacity more quickly?”
It is an astounding statement from a conservative American, signaling the willingness to spend more on defense, the general demand of Trump, but also the desire to go it alone.
“I didn’t think I had to say that on a TV show,” he said.
There are countless uncertainties as to whether this could all work. Does Europe’s new military independence mean spending equality with the United States within NATO? For example, Macron and British Prime Minister Stage, Stage, say they have no desire to reduce cooperation with Washington. Or will American involvement on the continent be reduced completely or even vanished?
In any case, the scale of the challenges is enormous. Sven Biscop, director of the Egmont Institute, a think tank in Brussels, said the US military is so deeply ingrained in Europe that it leaves “huge holes” in air defense, military satellites and cyberspace.
Since World War II, the United States has agreed to protect Europe’s declining troops against Russia, with the understanding that it could pass through the continent in return and spread even more fierce and soft American power. It costs hundreds of billions of dollars to trouble this symbiotic disease, possibly stepped in by European taxpayers, and is caught up in an already living crisis, cutting public services.
Last year’s total EU defense budget of $457 million was extended to the US defense budget of $968 billion. Russia’s total of $462 billion, despite its much smaller economy, has been going back the entire economy towards the foothold of war since it invaded Ukraine three years ago.
Luigi Skazziri, assistant director of the London think tank Centre for Europe Reform, said it would take “at least five years” to “fully block Russia without US contribution.” “We’ll probably get to fill in the majority of the gap in two or three years, but only a lot of urgency.”
Regardless of these practical mountains, Meltz’s comments stated, Sofia Besch, a senior European Fellow at the Carnegie Fund for International Peace, a Washington think tank:
The Trump administration “advocates the view of a very “great “power competition in the world, does not recognize a shared community of values, shares interests, and is advocating for the view of a very “great power competition” in the world where Europe is the side player and Russia is equal,” Besh said.
German leader adjuncts are far from alone. He has a fellow traveler in Macron, and has long argued that Europe needs to end its dependence on Washington. “We’re experiencing a historic moment,” he said Monday in response to Mertz’s overture. “That could lead to an unprecedented Franco German agreement.”
Biscop believes that these leaders need to form something similar to the European “war cabinet” to organize this new autonomy. He believes that, he should be British ancestors, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tass, NATO Secretary-General Mark Latte, and EU von der Leyen.
“They need to be agile and move fast,” he said. “In Ukraine, even faster – because Americans and Russians are already negotiating.”
