Is Europe threatened with the “annihilation of civilization”, mainly through immigration? Does Russia really no longer represent a threat to peace? Are European states undermining democratic processes? And, perhaps most alarming: Will the goal of future US policy under President Donald Trump be to interfere in the internal affairs of these European states, as the new “National Security Strategy” explicitly states?” of the USA, filed on Friday, December 5, 2025?
Government Spokesperson: “Russia has returned war to Europe”
The indignation is great among politicians in Germany, around these statements from Washington. The Government tries, almost desperately, to emphasize the ties it still maintains with its most important ally to date.
Government spokesman Sebastian Hille took the first step: “Europe and the United States are linked historically, economically and culturally, and will remain close partners. However, we reject the partly critical tone directed at the EU,” he said in Berlin on Monday, December 8.
He also rejected accusations that Germany and Europe are hindering freedom of expression. As well as the statement that Russia no longer represents a threat: “We do not share this assessment.” Rather, they support NATO’s assessment that Russia is a threat to peace, freedom and stability: “Russia has returned war to Europe.”
In the afternoon, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was in London, where he spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the situation in Ukraine. The new US security strategy was also a topic of debate, especially its relevance to Ukraine. At the beginning of the meeting, Merz stated that the destiny of that country is also that of Europe: “No one should doubt our support for Ukraine.”
Hope: no concrete plans from the US yet
Chancellery experts in Berlin are not really surprised by the new US plans for relations with Europe. DW chief correspondent Michaela Küfner, who recently accompanied Merz on numerous trips, sums it up this way:
“In the Foreign Ministry, the shock over Trump’s original 28-point plan for Ukraine remains so deep that the new US security strategy no longer diverts anyone’s attention. The realization that Europe will not only have to do without the US in the future, but that Washington actively wants the dismantling of the EU into ethnically homogeneous nation-states, was already evident beforehand.”
Hope is now offered by a key weakness of the Trump administration: unlike previous security strategies, where every phrase was already backed by internal action plans, Washington’s new document reads more like an ideological position paper.
The relationship seems to be broken
The strongest reactions from political Berlin came, for example, in the words of Norbert Röttgen, a foreign policy expert from the parliamentary group of the conservative CDU, the chancellor’s party: “For the first time since the end of the Second World War, the United States no longer supports the Europeans,” he declared on Sunday to Editorial network Germany (RND).
And, almost more important at this moment, according to Röttgen: the United States no longer supports Ukraine either. This makes it even more crucial to stand firm on the use of the billions of euros in frozen Russian accounts in Europe, especially in Belgium, for the reconstruction of Ukraine, he stressed; also facing the United States.
Röttgen spoke of a “crucial moment” for Europe: “If we do not mobilize Russian resources to help Ukraine, it would mean that we are not prepared to assert ourselves, to defend our own sovereignty.” In other words, relations between Washington and European capitals appear to be broken. Europe can only take care of itself.
The Greens Germans, in the opposition, are also deeply concerned after the publication of the US strategic plan. Party leader Franziska Brantner told Funke Media Group newspapers that the new US document means, above all, that Europe cannot afford to waste any more time. The continent must now invest in its own sovereignty.
(rml/ms)
