How Europe’s elites miscalculated Trump and what Europe should do
European leaders knew that Vladimir Putin in the East and Donald Trump in the West would be a strategic nightmare scenario.
Yet they did almost nothing to achieve greater political unity and stronger defense capabilities in anticipation of precisely this outcome.
Read more about the threats facing Europe and the necessary steps forward in the column by Joschka Fischer, Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister (1998–2005) – Trump attacks Europe: why the EU was unprepared and what it should do now.
The author notes that following senior US officials’ flurry of appearances at major European summits, we know that this was a grand error. According to him, European elites apparently thought that the United States would become a little more isolationist, a bit more nationalist. But otherwise, continuity would prevail.
"From now on, Russia, not the European Union, will be America’s close partner. It is no longer the solidarity of democracies that counts in Washington, but the agreement of autocratic rulers of global powers; might once again prevail over law", Joschka Fischer writes.
He points out, Ukraine and Europe will have to bear most of the political and material consequences, but they will have no say in negotiating the terms.
German's former foreign minister is sure that Trump’s revisionism has placed the US on a path to self-weakening or even self-destruction, starting with the destruction of the West. NATO made the US strong and contributed decisively to the West’s victory in the Cold War.
The author notes that European leaders knew who and what they would get with a second Trump presidency, but Europe is completely unprepared.
He adds that Europe presents a pitiful picture, seemingly as hapless and hysterical as a henhouse when a fox enters.
"It should be obvious to all that 'business as usual' is a recipe for disaster. Europe has the money, the technological capacity, and the people and companies needed to secure its future. But it must act now," Fischer states.
According to him, The EU’s large and medium-size states must cooperate closely. The European Commission must redefine debt rules, and, together with the member states – and ideally involving the United Kingdom and Norway – finally create a combat-ready European army and a common European defense industry.
"That is why Europe must act immediately. In Trump’s world, there is no substitute for hard power. Europe must spare no cost developing it," Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister (1998–2005) concludes.