Europe Inside Out

Since U.S. President Donald Trump has returned to the White House, several crises have affected the transatlantic relationship.

Rym Momtaz, Rosa Balfour, and Stefan Lehne reflect on whether Europeans should stop considering the United States as the partner it once was.

[00:00:00] Intro, [00:00:57] Was it Worth it for Europe to Appease Trump?, [00:13:22] EU Dependence on the U.S. in Different Domains, [00:24:56] Is the U.S. Still a Reliable Partner for Europe?

Rym Momtaz, ed., May 7, 2026, “Taking the Pulse: Is it Worth it for Europeans to Placate Trump?,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rym Momtaz, May 5, 2026, “Europeans Are Quiet Quitting the United States,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rym Momtaz, ed., April 9, 2026, “Taking the Pulse: Can NATO Survive the Iran War?,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Stefan Lehne, March 24, 2026, “Time to Merge the Commission and EEAS,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Stefan Lehne, February 12, 2026, “What Can the EU Do About Trump 2.0?,” Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, February 8, 2026, “Dependence on the United States Is Deeply Rooted in the European Mindset,” Le Monde.

Rosa Balfour, January 24, 2026, “The EU Finally Used an Economic Threat Against Trump. But the Markets Forces his Climbdown,” The Guardian.

Rosa Balfour, January 6, 2026, “The Cost of Europe’s Weak Venezuela Response,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Stefan Lehne, November 4, 2025, “Can the EU Meet the Trump Moment?,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, Stefan Lehne, and Elena Ventura, September 22, 2025, “The European Radical Right in the Age of Trump 2.0,” Carnegie Europe.

Emmanuel Macron's updated French nuclear doctrine represents an unprecedented effort by Paris to coordinate with European partners as U.S. security commitments decline.

Rym Momtaz, Sophia Besch, and Ulrich Kühn discuss France's evolving role in European nuclear deterrence and the political and material credibility gaps that persist.

[00:00:00] Intro, [00:01:26] Macron’s Update to France’s Nuclear Doctrine, [00:09:13] The Role of the Baltics in Europe’s Defense, [00:22:47] European Alternatives to the U.S. Extended Deterrence.

Rym Momtaz, April 7, 2026, “On NATO, Trump Should Embrace France Instead of Bashing It,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rym Momtaz (ed.), March 12, 2026, “Taking the Pulse: Is France’s New Nuclear Doctrine Ambitious Enough?,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Ulrich Kühn, February 24, 2026, “The Unintended Consequences of German Deterrence,” Global Policy vol. 17, issue S1: 1-9, https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.70134.

Sophia Besch, Erik Brown, and Rafaela Uzan, December 22, 2025, “Rebalancing the Transatlantic Defense-Industrial Relationship: Regional Pragmatism in Northeastern Europe,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Sophia Besch and Jamie Kwong, December 11, 2025, “Unpacking Europe’s Deterrence Dilemmas,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Ulrich Kühn, May 1, 2025, “Is Europe Moving to an Independent Nuclear Deterrent?,” Arms Control Today, Arms Control Association.

With key elections approaching across Europe, radical-right parties are poised to maintain and even expand their political influence.

Rosa Balfour, Catherine Fieschi, and Cas Mudde explore whether a more right-leaning EU constitutes an existential threat, or if such concerns are overstated.

Catherine Fieschi, Cas Mudde, March 19, 2026, "Is the Radical-Right Threat Existential or Overstated?," Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, January 24, 2026, "The EU Finally Used an Economic Threat Against Trump. But the Markets Forced His Climbdown," The Guardian.

Rosa Balfour, Stefan Lehne, Elena Ventura, September 22, 2025 "The European Radical Right in the Age of Trump 2.0," Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, April 30, 2025, "Europe Tried to Trump-Proof Itself. Now It’s Crafting a Plan B," Emissary, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Rosa Balfour and Stefan Lehne, April 18, 2024, "Charting the Radical Right’s Influence on EU Foreign Policy," Carnegie Europe.

Catherine Fieschi, April 10, 2025, "What Le Pen’s Sentence Means for the Rule of Law in Europe," Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Catherine Fieschi, August 16, 2023, "Populocracy," Agenda Publishing.

Cas Mudde, December 4, 2024, "Democracy is in a doom spiral—but it isn’t dead yet," Prospect Magazine.

Cas Mudde, September 2019, "The Far Right Today," Polity.

The Iranian nuclear deal was the last issue where Europe could realistically claim to have diplomatic influence.

Rym Momtaz, Pierre Vimont, and Maha Yahya debate whether the war in Iran has left Europe irrelevant on the global stage.

[00:00:00] Intro, [00:00:51] The Current Situation in Lebanon and the Region, [00:09:16] Is Europe Now Irrelevant in the Region?, [00:25:54] The Role of the Gulf and the Future of the Region.

Maha Yahya, March 4, 2026, “How Is the War Playing Out in Iran?”, Inside Story, Al Jazeera English.

Pierre Vimont, March 3, 2026, “Europe on Iran : Gone with the Wind”, Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, February 8, 2026, “Dependence on the United States is Deeply Rooted in the European Mindset”, Le Monde.

Rosa Balfour, January 6, 2026, “The Cost of Europe’s Weak Venezuela Response”, Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Pierre Vimont, October 15, 2024, “The EU Needs an Interagency Process for Foreign Policy”, Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Pierre Vimont, October 10, 2023, “Europe’s Moment of Powerlessness in the Middle East”, Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

The EU and its member states are weighing the costs and benefits of offering Ukraine a fast-track accession process, while also considering how to manage relations with other candidate countries.

Rosa Balfour, Sylvie Goulard, and Gerald Knaus examine how further enlargement could shape the EU’s cohesion, decisionmaking capacity, and ability to act effectively on the global stage.

[00:00:00] Intro, [00:01:02] Could a Smaller EU Be Stronger than an Enlarged Bloc?, [00:32:37] The Future of EU Enlargement.

Rosa Balfour, March 25, 2025, “The Case for Europe,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Rosa Balfour, October 3, 2024, “EU Should Enlarge, Even Out of Despair,” Visegrad Insight.

Dimitar Bechev, Iliriana Gjoni, October 28, 2025, “How the Western Balkans Can Contribute to European Defense,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.

Stefan Lehne, Zoran Nechev, Richard Grieveson, August 27, 2025, “Access Before Accession: Rethinking the EU’s Gradual Integration,” Carnegie Europe.

Rym Momtaz, February 10, 2026, “To Survive, the EU Must Split,” Strategic Europe, Carnegie Europe.