President Nikos Christodoulides, in a speech he made at Greece’s defence exhibition DEFEA 2026, said that the EU could advance on defence and security without the United States. Can it really? On what reasoning does the president base this rather dubious assertion? A stronger and more strategically autonomous EU would be a more useful partner in Nato, in addressing shared challenges, he said, in his usual vague style.

It is difficult to understand why the president makes such statements. Militarily, Cyprus is a country of no consequence in the EU, because it has neither the population nor the military equipment to have any defence relevance. Being in this position, how can the president make any prediction about how the EU could advance without the US? It is not the same as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, making such a statement, as he leads a nuclear power – he said recently that France’s nuclear deterrent could be extended across Europe.

This EU patriotism advanced by Christodoulides in Greece is rather superficial as it completely disregards the post-war role of the US as the guarantor of Europe’s security. President Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken about disengaging America from this role, even toying with the idea of withdrawing from Nato, but the reaction of the big EU states has not been one of defiance.

This was certainly not the response to the Pentagon’s announcement that it would withdraw 5,000 American troops from bases in Germany, after the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised the US war on Iran by saying the US was being “humiliated by the Iranian leadership.” Merz said at the weekend that he was not giving up on the transatlantic relationship nor on his relationship with President Trump. He certainly did not suggest that the EU could get become militarily stronger without the US, because he recognises the importance of the US to Europe’s security.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, combined with pressure on Nato members to increase their defence spending by Trump, has caused the EU to adopt a new approach on defence. The Security Action For Europe (SAFE) instrument made available €150 billion for defence spending, but each member-state will use the funds allocated to it in the way it chooses. There is no unified EU defence and security plan. There has never been joint decision-making on defence in the EU. Perhaps this is because most member-states are in Nato, on which they rely for their and the continent’s defence. Of course Nato depends on the US without which it could not offer Europe the security it has provided in the post-war era. 

It is very premature to suggest that Europe can advance on defence and security without the US, especially when there is no such concept as an EU defence plan. In theory, there is a need for it, after Trump’s threats, but it is a very long way away from happening. Europe’s security would be better served by the big European nations, like France, Spain, Germany and Italy mending relations with Washington, if this is still possible.