Jul 6, 2026
Joschka Fischer
Under pressure from Russian aggression—which has reached its full expression in the ongoing war against Ukraine—and an increasingly hostile US administration, Europe urgently needs to make progress toward a defense union. But that will require Franco-German leadership of the kind that is not yet on offer.
BERLIN—As the United States withdraws from Europe under President Donald Trump’s second administration, it is not only reducing its military presence and casting doubt on its security guarantees, but also renouncing its de facto (but never formally declared) leadership of the geopolitical West. That means the US is shedding a political leadership role it has exercised within Western Europe since 1945, and within Europe overall since 1990.
