François Picard is happy to welcome former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. According to NATO’s Secretary General, Europe is coming into a decisive strategic rupture, one which forces a long-delayed reckoning with its personal dependency constructions and safety assumptions. The erosion of American dedication to European defence isn’t a hypothetical threat however an unfolding actuality, exposing the fragility of a mannequin constructed on exterior ensures and inside complacency.
From this angle, the way forward for European safety depends upon a structural transformation fairly than incremental adaptation. This contains the strengthening of a distinctly European pillar inside NATO, the event of autonomous deterrence capabilities, and a reconfiguration of defence manufacturing towards pace, scale, and technological relevance. At the identical time, he highlights that the problem isn’t solely institutional however political and societal. Europe faces a deficit of decisive management and a scarcity of strategic cohesion, which undermines its skill to behave in a quickly evolving geopolitical surroundings. The response should due to this fact lengthen past army funding to incorporate a broader mobilization of political will and public dedication. Ultimately, he contends that Europe should transition from a reactive to a proactive strategic actor, one able to participating in energy politics with readability, firmness, and autonomy. This requires abandoning illusions of permanence in alliances and embracing a extra transactional and self-reliant posture in worldwide affairs.
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/spotlight/20260324-we-need-a-more-european-nato-rasmussen-warns-the-us-is-turning-its-back-on-europe