In this edition of the European Council Experts’ Debrief, our experts focus on the omnipresent theme of global politics in 2025: the impacts of the second Trump administration no the United States’ global partnerships. In particular, as regards transatlantic relations between the US and Europe, we asked fourteen experts from across TEPSA’s pan-European network to respond to the following question, formulated by TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos and Executive Director Mariam Khotenashvili: “How significant are the changes in American politics for the European Union (EU)? Have Europeans truly woken up to the implications – geopolitical, security, political, and economic? And how should the EU position itself in light of these profound shifts?”
Few themes are as central to Europe’s present and future as its relationship with the United States. This is not simply because the US remains such a major global actor, nor merely because the transatlantic partnership has been the cornerstone of Europe’s geopolitical stance since the Second World War. It is also, and perhaps above all, because the US itself now increasingly calls into question the very paradigms it once championed. As a result, Europe is being forced – more urgently than at any time in decades – to redefine its place in the world and its role as an actor in its own right.
In addition to the foreword by TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos, expert contributors to this edition include:
- Valentina Cassar, University of Malta;
- Michele Chang, College of Europe;
- Erik Jones, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute;
- Marie Ketterlin, College of Europe;
- Michał Matlak, European University Institute & Central European University;
- Luís Matos, College of Europe;
- Cordelia Buchanan Ponczek, Finnish Institute of International Affairs;
- Niklas Helwig, Finnish Institute of International Affairs;
- Kristi Raik, International Centre for Defence and Security;
- Marianne Riddervold, University of Oslo & Norwegian Institute of International Affairs;
- Paul Schmidt, Austrian Society for European Politics;
- Pierre Vimont, Carnegie Europe;
- Yuriy Yakymenko, Razumkov Centre;
- Mykhailo Pashkov, Razumkov Centre.
