The new narrative of Europe after the MSC

Feb 16, 2026

The new narrative of Europe after the Munich Security Conference: Europe must become a global power!

The results of the Munich Security Conference are:

The USA and Europe are and remain parts of the same Western cultural sphere but they no longer share all values: For example, in the USA, regarding freedom of expression, the right of free speech (meaning of the speaker) stands in the foreground according to the motto "everything may be said," while in Europe the right of the listener to information that is at least somewhat truthful and does not only spread hate and insult must also be respected. And: The Europeans want a rules-based world order while Trump regards the "right of the stronger" as normal. There are therefore large differences but still also large intersections, meaning commonalities between the USA and Europe. It still exists, the West, even if in a different form.

A similar "partial equality" applies to the planned accession of Ukraine to the EU. Ukraine is indeed to become a member of the EU swiftly, but not in all policy fields (e.g., not in agriculture) and also not with all rights and obligations. We had a comparable situation, by the way, in the first years of German reunification when the then-GDR simultaneously also joined the EU.

Putin's Russia has, with the Ukraine war, undertaken a kind of last attempt at force in order to still become a global world power through the conquest of Ukraine with its significant reserves and natural resources. The attempt has – this can already be said now – gone thoroughly wrong.

For the expected Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire, the following consequences are emerging:

Trump and Putin are – even if unintentionally – midwives of a newly forming world power named Europe, officially: "European Sovereignty." The realization that Europe must go this independent way has steadily grown and is today the "dominant" doctrine. That such a goal is associated with great efforts and also sacrifices is obvious, but the gain in stability and security undoubtedly compensates for this.

Decisive now will be whether and how Europe finds the strength to also concretely implement the desired European Sovereignty in practice. Thus, the states ready for this should go forward now and, for example, establish a joint high command for important armed forces, or they should begin to implement security policy decisions even without unanimity. Armaments must be standardized.

NATO as an unbreakable alliance is losing importance without disappearing entirely, even if the nuclear umbrella is to be officially maintained. It remains a kind of friendship alliance in which the previous hegemon USA then helps when good deals can be negotiated. The previous absolute NATO mutual assistance obligation according to Art 5 must unfortunately be questioned to some extent. Therefore, the EU must formulate its own crystal-clear security guarantee, which fills the mutual assistance obligation already existing in the EU treaties with concrete life, in order to appear credible for deterrence.

Europe is challenged like never before!