Donald Trump has been President of the United States since January 20, 2025. And since that day, a fireworks display of half-baked ideas has been keeping the world on tenterhooks: annexing Canada as the 51st state of the USA, buying Greenland or transforming the Gaza Strip into a future vacation destination. The last straw for Europe was his telephone conversation with Putin on February 13, which had taken place the day before. Ukraine was only informed about this afterwards. (1) Political trust and reliability among allies feels different.
USA: Domestic and foreign volatility will increase
But these days, it is also becoming clear within the USA itself what it is dealing with: firstly, a policy without moderation or guiding principles. And secondly, with a political personnel consisting primarily of die-hard ideologues, courtiers and unbridled tech billionaires. 2) Party activists have suspended the democratic control of the executive branch by the legislature. Many Americans, including Republicans, now see democracy in danger. (3) Even at the beginning of his first term from 2016 to 2020, Trump had tried to turn the country into an authoritarian state.
As Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write in their book “How Democracies Die”: “He has tried to neutralize the referees, marginalize potentially dangerous key players, and change the rules of the game in his favor.” (4) But the majority of voters were apparently not very impressed by this. For the future, this gives rise to fears of something terrible: What comes after Trump? As early as spring 2024, scientists at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) saw the USA “on the road to a systemic crisis”. (5) Instability at home and abroad is therefore to be expected.
Right-wing populists undermine Europe's ability to act
There is also cause for concern in Europe. Right-wing parties are winning national elections here – from Sweden to Italy. Some of these parties, such as the FPÖ (6) in Austria or the AfD in Germany, reject the EU. There is a danger that key players in the US will fuel discord in Europe in the future. (7) Those who aspire to a career as a doormat for their country should give in to this. Those who do not want to be used should rely on Europe. Here, every member state has a say in policy. And sooner or later every country needs Europe's solidarity, whether for economic or political reasons.
Europe delivers
This insight is accompanied by a lot of good news in the EU these days: on January 29, the Commission presented its “Compass for a Sustainably Competitive EU”. Over the next five years, the EU's innovation, decarbonization and competitiveness, as well as its security and crisis resilience, are to be strengthened. (8) On February 9, the French company Mistral made its AI chatbot Le Chat available as an app. (9) On February 10, the Baltic states ended their dependence on Russian electricity by connecting to the European grid. (10) On February 11, at the AI conference in Paris, Commission President von der Leyen launched the initiative to mobilize 200 billion euros for investment in AI. (11)
And on February 14, before the start of the Munich Security Conference, its director Christoph Heusgen said on Deutschlandfunk radio: “Now is Europe's hour.” He said the list of speakers had already been changed. After the opening, Commission President von der Leyen will speak instead of the American vice president as originally planned. (12) He added that the security conference sees itself as a global conference that tries to respond to global challenges. Europe's finest hour is now.
Margit Reiser-Schober
Error in content? – Error in translation? - eurolandpost(at)gmx.eu
- https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/us-praesident-trump-einigung-mit-putin-ueber-aufnahme-von-friedensverhandlungen-im-ukraine-krieg-100.html
- Senatorin Slotkin (Michigan):
„American citizens don't want billionaires with their private data“ https://x.com/BulwarkOnline/status/1887885730577346837
- Republican Accountability@AccountableGOP
„We are working to defend our democracy from extreme MAGA Republicans“
https://x.com/AccountableGOP
- Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt: „Wie Demokratien sterben“
München 2018 (Ausgabe der Büchergilde Gutenberg), S.227- Referees: e.g. law enforcement officers, intelligence services, ethics commissions, courts (p.206)
- Key players: e.g. opposition politicians, leading entrepreneurs, financiers of the opposition, media houses, possibly representatives of religion and culture (p.97)
- Marco Overhaus, Johannes Thimm:
„Die USA auf dem Weg in die Systemkrise - Warum demokratische Institutionen erodieren“
SWP-Aktuell 2024/A 16, 11.03.2024, 8 Seiten
https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2024A16/
- https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/oesterreich-wahl-bedeutung-eu-100.html
- https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/vance-fordert-zusammenarbeit-mit-populistischen-parteien-in-europa-100.html
- Kompass für eine nachhaltig wettbewerbsfähige EU:
https://commission.europa.eu/news/steering-eu-towards-greater-sustainable-competitiveness-2025-01-29_de
- https://mistral.ai/en
- Baltische Staaten jetzt Teil des europäischen Stromnetzes
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/ac_25_465
- EU-Initiative „InvestAI“
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/ip_25_467
- Christoph Heusgen im Deutschlandfunk am 14.02.25
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/muenchner-sicherheitskonferenz-interview-mit-christoph-heusgen-leiter-msc-100.html