The liberal European order that emerged after World War II and spread after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been under attack from both within and without in recent years. The European Union—the ultimate expression of the European project—had long been a convenient punching bag for opportunistic politicians in many of its member countries, as anti-EU sentiment was integrated into the broader populist platform of protectionism and opposition to immigration. But the European debt crisis in the early 2010s, followed by the refugee crisis in 2015, fueled the rise of far-right and populist parties across Europe, and for a time raised questions about the union’s long-term survival. The shocking outcome of the U.K.’s Brexit referendum in 2016 added to those concerns.
Although the populist wave that once seemed like an existential threat to the union has since subsided, vestiges of it remain. An illiberal government holds power in Hungary, and until recently the same was true of Poland. And a far-right candidate once again reached the second round of France’s presidential election in 2022. Far-right parties have entered or support governments in Finland and Sweden, and Italy’s elections in September resulted in its first far-right government since the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.
Even as leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have fended off challenges from right-wing opposition parties at home, they have also sought to position Europe as an independent pole in an increasingly multipolar world. To achieve that goal, however, the EU will have to overcome its internal divisions and bat down external threats to articulate a coherent collective foreign and security policy backed by a credible military deterrent.
Those external threats are myriad. Most prominent among them now is Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose persistent attempts to destabilize the European order culminated in the invasion of Ukraine. But rather than divide the West, as Putin perhaps expected, the war has revitalized trans-Atlantic ties and given the NATO alliance newfound relevance and urgency. And the EU response to Putin’s aggression has been robust, particularly with regard to economic sanctions. For now, the degree of unity and cohesion displayed by the EU has surprised many observers, but with the war in Ukraine dragging on, there is no guarantee it will endure.
Putin isn’t the only concern preoccupying European policymakers. U.S. President Joe Biden has demonstrated a more conventional approach to trans-Atlantic ties than his predecessor, Donald Trump, exemplified by Biden’s leadership in the ongoing crisis over Ukraine. But numerous tensions within the partnership—over trade relations and burden-sharing on defense, for instance—preceded the current moment of solidarity over the standoff with Russia. Those tensions, as well as new ones, will no doubt resurface over time, especially if Trump is returned to the presidency later this year.
The EU must also navigate a relationship with China that is becoming increasingly complex, combining areas of cooperation with elements of strategic rivalry and confrontation, even as Brussels seeks to stake out an independent position amid the strategic competition between Washington and Beijing. And all the while, Brussels must address recurring tensions with states on the EU’s periphery, like Turkey and Belarus.
WPR has covered Europe in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. What are the long-term political and security implications of the war in Ukraine for Europe? Will the EU establish itself as an independent global strategic actor, given its security dependence on the U.S.? And how will the EU navigate its relations with an increasingly assertive China? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
Our Most Recent Coverage
Farmers’ Protests Keep Germany’s Scholz in ‘Crisis Mode’
The coming year looks to be one of continued headaches and reactive crisis management for Germany’s ruling three-party coalition. A budget crisis, which triggered mass farmers protests, has compounded the country’s existing challenges, testing the durability of the ruling coalition and the political skills of its leaders.
Elections and Domestic Politics
Overshadowed by the rise of the far right has been the growing support for various national Green parties, driven by both the mounting pressure to address climate change and the absence of any other viable political home for left-leaning voters. Meanwhile, even as the center has held against the threat from the political extremes in many recent elections across Europe, compromise might be increasingly hard to come by in the face of political polarization.
- What’s driving the Conservative Party’s shift to the right in the U.K., in Far-Right Factions Battle for the Tory Party’s Future
- Why the Netherlands’ far-right leader is having trouble putting together a governing coalition, in Wilders Has the Votes to Lead the Netherlands, but Not the Trust
- What the attack on the British Library reveals about ransomware trends worldwide, in A Ransomware Attack Has Taken the British Library Out of Circulation
- Why a violent backlash against Britain’s climate measures should be attracting more attention, in Climate Measures Are Triggering Britain’s Radicalized Far Right
The European Union
The EU managed to survive the populist wave by turning to its historical crisis-response strategy: muddling through. But efforts to reform the EU have stalled, leaving it vulnerable in the face of future crises—and to the changing global geopolitical landscape. The coronavirus pandemic initially seemed to be a perfect storm combining both challenges, but instead it opened a window of opportunity for enhanced integration, particularly when it comes to fiscal policy and collective debt, as well as addressing regional and global security challenges. So far the EU has also effectively responded to the war in Ukraine, but it, too, presents long-term challenges that won’t be easy to overcome.
- Why Hungary’s EU obstructionism doesn’t represent the same kind of danger as political polarization in the U.S., in Orban Isn’t the EU’s Trump
- Why Brussels can’t afford to be a bystander when it comes to the war in Gaza, in For the EU, the Israel-Hamas War Isn’t a Distant Crisis
- Why the EU’s global infrastructure program should do more than just copy China’s Belt and Road Initiative, in The EU’s Global Gateway Should Be More Than a ‘Belt and Road’ Copycat
- Why the EU is better at long-term responses than short-term crisis management, in Don’t Count the EU Out When It Comes to Geopolitics
Europe-U.S. Relations
During his four years in office, Trump infuriated America’s long-standing European allies, lobbing trade threats and backing out of hard-won international agreements. At the same time, he cozied up to some of the continent’s more illiberal regimes, particularly Poland and Hungary. The arrival of the Biden administration improved the tone of the relationship, even as divergences on key policy and strategic issues continued to arise. For now, any tensions are on hold due to the need for cohesion over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they haven’t necessarily gone away.
- Why the once-neutral Nordic countries are deepening security ties with the U.S., in Putin Is Driving the Nordic Countries Into Washington’s Arms
- What’s driving the GOP’s obstructionism on U.S. military aid to Ukraine, in Republican Opposition to Ukraine Aid Is Really Nativism in Disguise
- How Washington’s approach to EU defense is weakening NATO, in To Strengthen NATO, the U.S. Should Embrace EU Defense
- How the G-7 has become a key “coordinating committee” for the U.S. and Europe in their rivalry with Russia and China, in The G-7 Now Has a Plan for Countering China and Russia
Europe-China Relations
The EU has been struggling to strike a balance in its relationship with China. Ahead of the pandemic, the newly installed European Commission had taken a harder line toward Beijing, particularly over unfair trade practices. But China also represents economic opportunity to many of Europe’s leaders, leaving the bloc divided over how to balance China’s value as an economic partner and its risk as a strategic rival.
- Why the EU is playing a losing hand against China on EVs, in Electric Vehicles Are Roiling EU-China Relations
- Why the EU’s tougher approach to China may be based on faulty assumptions, in The EU Might Be Overdoing Its Hawkish Stance on China
- What the latest “wolf warrior” incident revealed about Europe’s leverage when it comes to ties with China, in A United Europe Can Stand Up to China
- Why another “wolf warrior” gaffe could have lasting consequences for China’s ties with Eastern Europe, in Another ‘Wolf Warrior’ Controversy Strains China’s Ties With Europe
Democracy and Rule of Law
Democratic norms have been under attack throughout Europe for the past decade, with leaders like Hungary’s Victor Orban and Poland’s Andrzej Duda chipping away at the rule of law in their countries. The EU has armed itself with new mechanisms to increase its leverage over recalcitrant member states that don’t respect its democratic norms. But with Orban having recently won a landslide reelection victory. At the same time, unprecedented popular movements have arisen to counter these threats to democracy, and recent elections in France, the Czech Republic and most recently Poland demonstrate that the appeal of right-wing populists could be on the wane elsewhere in Europe.
- Why losing power could drive Poland’s Law and Justice even further to the right, in Poland’s PiS Party Is Playing With Fire
- Why Poland’s recent elections were such a test of its democracy, in Poland’s Elections Are Making Everyone Sweat
- What the return of Robert Fico as prime minister means for rule of law in Slovakia, in In Slovakia, Fico’s Return Has Europe—and Ukraine—on Edge
- How randomly selected panels of citizens are reinventing democracy in Europe and beyond, in Citizens’ Assemblies Could Be Democracy’s Best Hope
Trade and Economy
In the face of Trump’s hostility to free trade, the EU redoubled its efforts to seek out new partners in defense of the liberal trade order. Meanwhile, with Brexit now official, the EU must navigate the political and economic fallout of its permanent trade deal with the U.K., which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. The economic impact of the war in Ukraine is also being felt across the bloc, in the form of rising energy costs and food prices. Now fallout from the war in Gaza has threatened commercial shipping through the Suez Canal.
- Why the de facto blockade of the Suez Canal is both a challenge and an opportunity for the Mediterranean, in Global Trade Disruptions Are a Double-Edged Sword for the Mediterranean
- Why the EU and London may have finally closed the book on Brexit, in Did Sunak’s Northern Ireland Protocol Deal Finally ‘Get Brexit Done’?
- How Brexit is weighing down the British economy, in As the EU Economy Picks Up, Brexit Clouds the U.K.’s Forecast
- Why Russia presents a new and unique test case for Western sanctions, in Sanctions on Russia Are a Long Game, Not a Quick Fix
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in June 2019 and is regularly updated.