Since the Second World War, European integration has been closely linked to the new United Nations, the UN, and many other international organisations. The USA wanted this integration and promoted it, and even said where it should go, since it brought economic and security advantages for the USA. To put it bluntly: the USA was an influential co-creator of European integration. The fact that Donald Trump & Co. deny this does not change the historical facts.
But now new facts have emerged. The Trump administration is destroying what took decades to build. There has always been a certain amount of imperialism in US politics, but this policy is now being reduced to pure imperialism. Domestically, the administration is ruling in an almost dictatorial manner by means of decrees, undermining the separation of powers and ignoring court rulings that slow the president down. The Democratic Party is putting up little resistance; one wonders whether they have grasped what is happening. Societal resistance is weak (for the time being?) and it is not very convincing – as much as one can understand the anger at Elon Musk – when it is currently focused on blocking Tesla showrooms and the like.
Whatever comes after Trump – whether it is he himself as a dictator sitting securely in the saddle, his vice-president, or a regular constitutional change – it will never be the same again, the damage is already irreparable. The course has been set and will not be reversed.
It is now becoming clearer again what Europe stands for and what it must hold on to at all costs: democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers, recognition and legal protection of diversity, guarantee of many freedoms, maintenance of international order, willingness to reform. However, Europe must also stand up for itself. There is no way around more defence spending; it must resist dictatorships in the east and west. Ukraine is the test.
A real strategy is still lacking; the individual states, especially the EU members, are still catering to their respective sensitivities, or rather, to what the current governments believe them to be. Doubts as to whether Europe has understood that fundamental change is afoot are growing rather than diminishing. More ideas are needed than the anxious desire to avoid angering Trump. You have to be able to let go.
