Europe must 'step up' on defence as Trump upends ties: EU top diplomat
EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas stated that Europe must increase its defense efforts and take a bigger role in NATO because the United States has fundamentally shaken the transatlantic relationship.
- Europe
- AFP
- Published Date: 11:55 | 28 January 2026
Europe must ramp up efforts on defence and play a bigger role in NATO as US President Donald Trump has "shaken the transatlantic relationship to its foundation", EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday.
"This shift has been ongoing for a while. It is structural, not temporary. It means that Europe must step up -- no great power in history has outsourced its survival and survived," Kallas told a defence conference in Brussels.
She said that Washington remained a key partner, but insisted as US focus shifts that Western military alliance NATO "needs to become more European to maintain its strength."
- Germany rules out 2027 as target date for Ukraine's EU accession
- France supports possible terror designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guards
- US to have technical meeting on Arctic island with Greenland, Denmark: Rubio
- Germany's Merz claims Iran regime's collapse 'may be a matter of weeks'
- European countries, along with Canada, Japan, urge Israel to abide by international obligations