On X on Monday the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote, “We have no interest to pick a fight, but we will hold our ground”.
As a former prime minister of Estonia, a country that fears the looming shadow of an expansionist Russia, she is keen to demonstrate to Moscow that Europe can – and will – bare its teeth, if pushed.
“Europeans can’t shy away anymore,” Tara Varma told me. She’s an expert in security and geopolitics at think tank, German Marshall Fund.
“They tried personal diplomacy alone [with Donald Trump] over the last year, in order to try and tie him into Europe’s collective defence and guaranteeing Ukraine’s security after a ceasefire with Russia,” she said.
But if he can suddenly turn around (as he just has), linking economic and security issues and threatening Nato, if he doesn’t get his way over a certain issue, then, she says, how much trust can Europe ultimately put in US security guarantees under this administration?”
