Getting European Defense Right

“In 15 years, in an ideal world, the United States and Europe should be relatively equal partners and allies, not security provider and dependent,” FP’s Emma Ashford wrote recently.

Regardless of how U.S. politics unfolds in that time, there’s a consensus in Europe that the continent can no longer rely on its trans-Atlantic partner for defense. The question is what Europe’s transformation will look like—and whether increases in military spending will translate into notably greater defensive capabilities.

This edition of The Reading List provides a snapshot into how experts are thinking about Europe’s strategic reboot and what it should entail.

Mark Harris Illustration for Foreign Policy

Passing the Baton in Europe

There has rarely been a safer window for the transition of security on the continent away from America, FP’s Emma Ashford writes.

How Europe’s Future Hinges on Defense

Jared Cohen tells FP’s Ravi Agrawal: “Without economic growth, you start to evaporate geopolitically.”

Dutch soldiers simulate urban combat during a military exercise alongside members of the German military near Gardelegen, Germany, on April 9. The exercise is meant to increase operability for defending Europe’s eastern flank. Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images

Europe Is Still Defenseless Without America

Franz-Stefan Gady weighs in on the future of NATO.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine where they held a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing”on May 10, 2025 in Kyiv. WPA Pool/Getty Images

Europe Has Willed Itself to Power

How the continent earned a seat at the table that will decide Ukraine’s fate, according to Michael Kimmage and Linas Kojala.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron as he hosts a European leaders’ summit at Lancaster House in London on March 2.Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street / Handout/ Anadolu via Getty Images

Europe Needs a Complete Strategic Reboot

If the continent’s leaders can’t make tough choices themselves, they should let their citizens make those decisions for them, Kishore Mahbubani writes.