The publication of the new U.S. National Security Strategy in December 2025 has sparked surprise and concern across Europe, revealing a persistent gap between American strategic priorities and European security needs and expectations. In her article, Europe Is at War with Everyone – and Itself, published by Formiche, Federica Dall’Arche, VCDNP Senior Research Associate, argues that this shift reflects a long-standing evolution rather than a sudden rupture.
Dall’Arche traces the gradual reorientation of U.S. strategic focus toward the Indo-Pacific, beginning with the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” and continuing through subsequent presidencies. She highlights how European leaders underestimated repeated signals of declining U.S. interest in European security, while failing to seriously pursue greater strategic autonomy.
The article also examines the internal and external pressures undermining European resilience, from geopolitical competition with major powers to the destabilizing role of digital platforms and disinformation. These dynamics, Dall’Arche argues, risk weakening European cohesion and strategic credibility at a time of intensifying global rivalry.
“And this is the point: while Europe struggles to build a credible defence to external pressures, private actors with unprecedented communicative power manage to destabilise it from within, eroding the democratic consensus and political cohesion necessary to support any strategic autonomy project”.
Dall’Arche concludes that Europe faces a decisive moment: it must strengthen its defense integration, political unity, and strategic capacity—or risk becoming a contested space shaped by the interests of others rather than an independent geopolitical actor.
The article is available in Italian below.
