On the eve of the 62nd Munich Security Conference, the organizers released the Munich Security Report 2026. The cover features a striking elephant with the title “Under Destruction” – the target of that description is self-evident.
Last year, US Vice President JD Vance lectured Europe at the conference in a patronizing tone, leaving many European elites visibly rattled. This year, the US delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. His rhetoric may sound somewhat more measured than Vance’s, but the cracks in transatlantic relations have already deepened.
From threatening to “purchase” Greenland, to weaponizing trade and systematically undermining multilateral mechanisms, and to wavering on key security issues such as the Ukraine crisis, Washington’s actions have already made Europe feel a distinct chill. The Munich Security Index shows that respondents in many countries – including nearly all G7 countries – believe the global risks posed by the US have grown more serious compared with last year.
They are forced to acknowledge a difficult reality: the US, once a long-standing “pillar” of the international order and a steadfast ally of Europe, now views that very order as no longer serving its interests and sees little need to uphold or defend it.
Although Europe has “woken up” under US pressure, it has to face a hard reality: Despite accounting for a considerable share of the global economy, having the euro as the world’s second-largest reserve currency and with the EU possessing a vast single market, Europe has proved unable to uphold the international order in the face of US unilateral bullying and is even unable to safeguard its own interests.
The reason lies in Europe’s long-standing pursuit of a role as a “normative power.” Its external dependence on trade and economic ties, institutional integration strengths and moral appeal of so-called democratic values appear especially fragile when confronted with America’s power politics, unilateral coercion, and populist conservatism, given the clear asymmetry in strength.
Only when struck by Washington’s “wrecking ball” has Europe realized that it lacks both an independent security pillar and a unified, decisive diplomatic posture.
Europe’s anxiety is twofold: It feels deep unease toward an increasingly unpredictable “ally” that has pushed “America First” to the extreme, while also harboring profound concerns about its own insufficient strategic autonomy and lack of internal cohesion. The security dependence under the NATO framework, once Europe’s postwar “comfort zone” for 70 years, is now turning into a “risk zone.” More and more people in Europe are realizing that the world must never slide back into a “law of the jungle” where the strong prey on the weak. That would spell disaster for small and medium-sized countries and lead to the collapse of global public goods, ultimately leaving no one immune. At a time when global governance faces serious deficits and international rules are being repeatedly undermined, Europe needs to assume a more constructive and more independent role.
The underlying logic of US foreign policy has already shifted. The three pillars of the transatlantic relationship, security, trade and a shared Western identity, have all begun to wobble. Trying to “appease the US” as in the past and avoiding open disagreements can no longer solve any real problems.
Only by shifting from passive dependence to proactive shaping, and from reactive frustration to strategic clarity, can Europe respond to its challenges. Europe has the capacity and the wisdom to put forward credible global governance solutions, as well as the potential to develop security capabilities that match its economic strength. What it needs most is a shift in mindset and the courage to act at critical moments.
Europe’s security anxieties are not insoluble, but the remedy does not lie in Washington, nor in mere complaints or passive waiting. At last year’s Munich Security Conference, during the “Conversation with China,” Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said that without norms and standards, one may be at the table yesterday but end up on the menu tomorrow. The greater the external pressure, the more Europe must hold firm to its principles, uphold rules, practice multilateralism, and respect openness and win-win cooperation, rather than wavering indecisively while trying to shift pressure it faces onto third parties.
As a new Munich Security Conference approaches, Europe should demonstrate the change it ought to make. Once dubbed a “transatlantic family gathering,” the conference now reflects a family marked by cracks and growing estrangement.
Will Europe continue to cling to a so-called glorious past, or seize the moment to complete a long-overdue “coming of age”? The answer is self-evident.
When it comes to safeguarding the international system and order, Europe is capable of playing a more constructive role, not as a junior partner of the US, but as an equal, autonomous and responsible pole in a multipolar world. Only a truly strategically autonomous Europe will be worthy of its wealth, its wisdom and its historical legacy.
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