External pressure builds strength
Divisive issues are receding into the background, observes EU correspondent Caroline de Gruyter in her column in NRC:
“The more Trump and Putin threaten Europe, the stronger Europe becomes as a community. … This may lead to a decrease in internal polarisation within Europe. As the Groningen professor Pieter de Wilde writes: 'The more we talk about security, the less attention we pay to the issues that are fuelling the current polarisation: diversity and inclusion and – above all – migration.' And why shouldn't that be the case? … As [Pope Pius II] Piccolomini wrote, we are ultimately all 'Europeos homines'. Under external pressure, one always sees that a little more clearly.”
Get rid of the unanimity rule
It's time for the EU to switch to majority voting, Ilta-Sanomat stresses:
“The EU itself has great difficulties defining or even properly understanding its position in world politics – let alone doing anything to strengthen that position. ... It was embarrassing for Europeans to see how difficult it was for EU leaders to push their way into the peace talks on Ukraine initiated by the US and Russia. ... If the EU wants to strengthen its position in global politics and decide on its own affairs, it must get its act together – and at least in matters of security and foreign relations, move from the unanimity rule to qualified majority voting.”
Defying the new world order
LRT columnist Paulius Gritėnas points out:
“The new friends of the US in Europe are Hungary, Slovakia and Belarus. In countries such as Germany or the UK, the US regards the local pro-Russian right-wing extremists as its new allies. There already are recognisable efforts to support forces that want to weaken or destroy the EU and its common defence structure – with the aim of fragmenting Europe by promoting national counter-movements, bilateral agreements, protectionism and the logic of geopolitical spheres of influence. … Europe is increasingly falling into a trap in which the only chance of survival lies in mobilising democratic forces and fighting fiercely to protect its principles, norms and political realism.”
Berlin must lead the way
Whether Europe can hold its own on the international stage depends above all on Germany, writes Spiegel columnist Henrik Müller:
“In 2026, it will become clearer than ever that the EU relies on its largest member state – or becomes even weaker. Germany faces the hegemonic question of whether to invest massively in stability and security – or risk chaos and war. Because there is no one else who can fulfil this role. Germany is the only country that is large and financially strong enough to guarantee European security. ... This is an enormous burden.”
Kyiv is the EU's security guarantee
Currently, it is Ukraine that is protecting Europe from Russia, explains the writer Andriy Lyubka on the Ukrainian service of Deutsche Welle:
“Since the hopes for America's protection are based on uncertain, if not illusory, notions, [Europe's] leading capitals are already intensely pondering the design of a European collective security system – a kind of 'European Nato'. However, as the creation of this model would take years even if the political will were there, the key EU states and the UK are confronted with an obvious fact: the only real security guarantee for the EU at present is Ukraine and its armed forces. It is Ukraine that is delaying Russia's aggressive plans against Europe.”