Worldcrunch
Europeans are coming to grips with a harsh reality: The United States is no longer the guardian ensuring the continent’s security — worse, it may have even turned into an outright adversary. Nothing underscores this shift more than the U.S. vote at the United Nations on Ukraine, siding with Russia and standing against EU nations.
While the Western establishment is hoping for a Kamala Harris victory, either way fundamental changes are coming to the Transatlantic relationship that Europe can no longer evade.
In the second round of elections, France’s far-right National Rally failed to secure a victory. But in a largely unnoticed revelation, the party announced that they are teaming up with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the European level. Thus the French far-right joins a plan to weaken the European Union from within.
France’s European partners fear the outcome of the upcoming snap legislative elections and its consequences for the EU. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for the victory of a party “other than Marine Le Pen’s,” a sign of this growing concern.
This week, 360 million voters across the EU will elect 720 Members of the European Parliament. Nationalist and far-right forces are expected to gain ground. At stake is the Europe’s ability to implement its security and competitiveness agenda over the next five years.
With the rejection of the aid plan for Ukraine, Eastern Europe fears that Trump’s isolationist policy will mark the end of U.S. protection from the Putin regime. News from Ukraine of President Volodymyr Zelensky replacing his head of armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, together with the difficult situation on the battlefield, are generating a lot of tension in Ukraine — and in the wider Europe.