Skip to main content

The Atlantic Crisis Triggers a New European Moment

From the series European news

At the Davos Forum in January, US President Donald Trump withdrew his threats to take Greenland away from Denmark and impose tariffs on all countries that opposed him. However, the damage had already been done. The episode was a trauma for Europe: now we no longer know how far the Americans might go, commented Emmanuel Macron. The French president warns against an illusory sense of relief after the peak of tensions. This Greenland moment has undoubtedly made Europeans aware that they are under threat. Now, we must think of Europe as a power [Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 11th].

The German chancellor also spoke out in favour of more European power in his speech to the Bundestag on January 29th. There, Friedrich Merz issued a warning: Anyone in the world who believes [...] that it is necessary to use customs tariffs against Europe must know—and now knows—that we are ready and able to defend ourselves against this if necessary. The senior cadres of European imperialism are now trying to use the Greenland moment to accelerate rearmament and political centralisation.

Pragmatic federalism

In his speech on February 2nd, on the occasion of receiving an honorary degree from the Catholic University of Leuven, Mario Draghi said that the best path for Europe is the one it is already on: Concluding trade agreements with partners who share our principles and offer diversification, and strengthening our position in supply chains where we are already key players. According to the former president of the European Central Bank, this is only a first step, because it is a maintenance strategy, not a destination. Europe must therefore choose its destination: Do we want to remain simply a large market, subject to the priorities of others? Or do we want to take the necessary steps to become a power?. The confederation logic, i.e., grouping together small countries, does not automatically produce a powerful bloc. To become a power, Europe must move from confederation to federation, because where Europe has federated—on trade, competition, the single market, and monetary policy—we are respected as a power and negotiate as a single entity. To move in this direction and break the impasse we find ourselves in today, Draghi proposes the approach of pragmatic federalism: Pragmatic because we must take the steps that are currently possible, with the partners currently available, in the areas where progress can be made. But federalism, because the destination is important. According to Draghi, the euro is an example of the success of this method.

For Enrico Letta, on the other hand, Europe must set itself the goal of completing the integration of the internal market by 2028, i.e., integrating what is not yet integrated. The current president of the Delors Institute stresses the importance of precise deadlines: I learned from Jacques Delors that policies without deadlines are like academic debates, and it is precisely the absence of deadlines that is one of the reasons for the failure of the capital market union over the last ten years [Il Sole-24 Ore, February 6th]. Delors was president of the European Commission from 1985-1995, during which time the 1992 deadline for the single market was imposed and the Maastricht Treaty was negotiated, laying the foundations for the euro.

A new Maastricht moment

Letta and Draghi, former Italian prime ministers and the authors of two reports in 2024 calling for structural reforms of the EU, were both guests at the informal European Council summit on February 12th at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium, not far from Maastricht. There, the heads of State and government of the 27 member countries met with European Council President António Costa and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Discussions focused on setting up a roadmap with deadlines for various issues: Buy European rules that would introduce new levels of protectionism to defend European industry; the creation of a 28th regime, or EU Inc., that would provide companies with a single legal framework valid across the continent; a reform of federal antitrust law to favour European champions; a reduction in regulations and bureaucracy; reform of the energy market; and the unification of capital markets under the new name of the Savings and Investment Union (SIU).

Von der Leyen said after the summit: At the next European Council in March, I will present the 'One Europe, One Market' roadmap. As for the SIU, if there is not enough progress by June, I will propose moving to enhanced cooperation, i.e., moving forward with a group of willing countries. This would breach a taboo, commented Politico Europe [February 13th]. According to Costa, this is a new Maastricht moment [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 14th]. However, he indicated that, in his opinion, the argument for enhanced cooperation serves above all to put pressure on others and convince them not to stay out [La Stampa, February 14th].

Franco-German frictions

However, there is no shortage of sceptical voices regarding the ability of member countries to make a leap towards federalisation in certain areas. The main argument in this vein is the obvious friction in the Franco-German axis. Rather than an acute crisis, these are long-standing differences between Paris and Berlin, which are re-emerging under the pressure of the crisis in the world order. On trade and industrial policy, France tends to take a more protectionist stance than Germany, but this is more a difference in degree than a head-on confrontation. The German government is pushing for new trade agreements, while Macron, partly due to internal political fragility, continues to criticise the Mercosur agreement. However, the French president concedes that the strategic approach of trade diversification is valid and praises the agreements concluded with India and Canada [Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 12th].

With the slogans Buy European and Made in Europe, Paris is pushing for European preference measures aimed at protecting its industry, while European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné is campaigning for his Industrial Accelerator Act, which also contains elements of industrial protectionism. For Berlin, European preference measures must be an exception and a measure of last resort, limited to critical and strategic technologies, not entire sectors, and must be time-limited [Le Monde, February 12th]. Germany, too, now recognises the necessity of having trade defence instruments, but prefers the Made with Europe formula, emphasising openness to partner markets.

Another controversial issue is the sixth-generation Franco-German fighter jet, which is part of the FCAS project. A decision on this matter is needed in order to start building a prototype, but the respective governments have not yet been able to impose a task-sharing agreement on Dassault and Airbus.

Common debt

Macron's interview with the European press on the eve of the Alden Biesen summit, in which he made an emphatic appeal for new common debt, caused great irritation in German government circles. According to Adriana Cerretelli of Il Sole-24 Ore, this was a clumsy move: The facts have already shown that when necessary, such as post-COVID-19 and the €90 billion in aid to Ukraine, common debt is created with out fanfare and, above all, without declaring a religious war, which is precisely what has always hindered it; all the more so if the country calling for EU-Bonds has accounts increasingly in the red [February 12th].

However, when assessing Macron's move, the support he has received on this point from the European monetary power must be taken into account. The confidential document that the ECB sent to heads of State and government before the European Council summit on February 12th includes a request for the creation of a European safe asset, i.e., EU-Bonds [Handelsblatt, February 12th]. Even more significant was the position taken in favour of EU-Bonds by the president of the German Central Bank. Making Europe attractive also means attracting investors from outside, argued Joachim Nagel. To this end, the Bundesbank president believes that a more liquid European market with regard to safe European assets would be helpful. He added—probably to appease the sensibilities of the German public and the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe—that such safe assets should only support specific purposes and that European debt is not a free lunch [Politico.eu, February 11th].

The European reaction is manifesting itself not only in the economic and institutional spheres, but also in the military sphere. I have initiated preliminary talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on European deterrence, Merz said at Wehrkunde, the Munich Security Conference in February. At this annual meeting of leading figures in transatlantic relations, the German chancellor declared that a sovereign Europe is our best response to the new era. He offered the United States a new transatlantic partnership that is healthier and has a self-supporting European pillar. Macron, who was also present in Munich, barely mentioned the United States in his speech. Instead, he argued that Europe needs to become a geopolitical power that defines its own security interests; with Russia, it should negotiate a new architecture of security for Europe after [the war in Ukraine], because our geography will not change.

The Wehrkunde of the Atlantic crisis

Like Merz, who tried to convince the Americans of the usefulness of NATO, stating that in times of rivalry between great powers, the United States will not be powerful enough to do everything on its own, the British prime minister also defended the transatlantic alliance at the Wehrkunde. Instead of a moment of rupture, we must make it into a moment of radical renewal, said Keir Starmer, who wants a more European NATO, underpinned by deeper links between the UK and the EU.

Von der Leyen sees a true European awakening underway, starting with defence investments that in 2028 will exceed what the US spent in 2025. Indeed, all the signs are there; it will become clear at the March European Council how far the proposals discussed at the Alden Biesen summit will become enforceable deadlines. If that does happen, it should be stressed that it will be just the start of a new series of battles, both inside and outside the EU.

A new European moment that raises the strategic role of the Union will shift the global balance and is bound to provoke counter-reactions. The same applies to the internal balance within the EU, which is being strained by the current acceleration. In terms of military spending, this is already visible in French concerns about German rearmament.

Lotta Comunista, February 2026

Labels:

Popular posts in the last week

Reckless Bets on Migrants in California

Internationalism No. 78-79, August-September 2025 Page 11 From the series Chronicles of the new American nationalism The tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on allies, partners and opponents of the United States have opened a phase of negotiations with the affected countries and caused reactions from some key States. The legal opposition from almost all areas of the US poses a test: whether States, courts, and Congress can influence trade policy and constrain the expansion of executive powers. Amid conflicting rulings, the tariffs have been reinstated – an outcome that, The New York Times remarks, has “left Washington, Wall Street, and much of the world trying to discern the future of US trade policy”. California’s dispute with the federal government has expanded to immigration policy and the domestic use of military force. The political, economic, and power struggles overlap with the electoral dimension. The establishment remains critical of or ...
Read more

The EU Commission Plans for Rearmament and a Clean Industrial Deal

Internationalism No. 71, January 2025 Page 2 From the series European news Following the European elections which took place on June 6th - 9th, the leaders of the Member States met on June 27th at the European Council. Ursula von der Leyen was nominated as president of the next European Commission, after she was chosen as the European People’s Party’s (EPP) Spitzenkandidat (“leading candidate”). The agreement also included the election of former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa as president of the European Council, and the appointment of former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Subsequently, on July 18th, Parliament elected von der Leyen as president of the Commission by an absolute majority, with 401 votes out of 719 MEPs. On September 17th, von der Leyen presented her team of commissioners to the European Parliament and, two days later, the Council adopted this list of...
Read more

Show Warfare?

Internationalism No. 86, April 2026 Page 16 After show politics and show diplomacy , have we sunk to the obscenity of show warfare ? On the surface, this is true. The Pentagon’s video game-style communications, where airstrikes, missile launches, and deadly explosions are set to music for social media clips, certainly suggest so. It matters little that a hundred schoolgirls were also blown to bits as artificial intelligence took centre stage on the battlefield. In reality, war propaganda has always showcased destruction and mocked the enemy; today in Washington, in the era of the high-tech groups of television and social media democracy , the only thing that has changed is the style and the means used to inflame fanaticisms and stuff people’s brains. In Tehran, dominated by a parasitic bourgeoisie that feeds on oil revenues and is intertwined with the militias and hierarchies of t...
Read more

THE UNITARY IMPERIALISM ISSUE

Chapter Six   In 1951 Europe, and the world, was shrouded in mist. The ‘Cold War’ ideology ruled, and the war in Korea made a world conflict between the USA and the USSR seem a real possibility. In France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy, the talk was of rearmament. Europe, at that time urged by the USA, was planning the EDC (European Defence Community) to keep step with German rearmament. The concept of a ‘ unitary imperialism ’ was the strategic choice that helped the small GAAP group remain politically independent. But translating this into an ‘Internationalist Third Front’ slogan was unfortunate. It facilitated a link with French libertarian communists, but could also cause confusion with its suggestion of a ‘Third Force’ between the USA and the USSR, which in Europe was supported by important bourgeois currents. Although opposition to unitary imperialism consolidated the internationalist struggle, the theory required to be developed and per...
Read more

LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM: A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNISM

Chapter Three LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM: A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNISM   An examination of the debate within the groups that were to create GAAP (Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action) gives a vivid picture of the problems that between 1948 and 1951 had to be slowly and painfully faced. Three major confrontations, progressively more serious, took place between Cervetto and Masini in the autumn of 1949 and again in the spring and autumn of 1950. As preparations were being made for the National Conference at Pontedecimo – from which GAAP would be born – debate on the nature of the organisation and on theories of the State and imperialism began to define the characteristics of the new political group, but also revealed the differences. The first step had been to look for ‘a different kind’ of communism in anarchism. Along this road Cervetto , with an ever-surer grasp, would raise the issue that had been first posed by Marx and Lenin : our militant...
Read more

Marx’s Political Method

Internationalism No. 85, March 2026 Special Issue, Page II From the series Principles of Marxism The Grundrisse require a sustained effort of attention from the reader. Marx uses scientific abstractions and conceptual connections as analytical tools. In the Grundrisse , we shall follow the guiding thread of Marx’s method. Some critics, including those within the Marxist camp, see traces of Hegelian thought in Marx’s procedures in this work. Marx and Engels responded to these jibes, clarifying their relationship with Hegel. In the Afterword to the second edition of Capital , Marx wrote: My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the [...] process of thinking, which, under the name of ‘the Idea’, he even transforms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos of the real world [...]. With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and transl...
Read more

Forward Deterrence for European Imperialism

Internationalism No. 86, April 2026 Page 3 From the series European news The next half-century will be the age of nuclear weapons . This was the grim prediction with which Emmanuel Macron concluded his speech on nuclear deterrence, delivered on March 2 nd at the Île Longue submarine base. Standing before Le Téméraire , the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine that carries a strike force equivalent to the sum of all the bombs dropped on Europe during the Second World War , the president announced a significant evolution in French nuclear doctrine. The emergence of new threats and the realignment of American priorities make it necessary, according to Macron, not only to strengthen deterrence by increasing the number of nuclear warheads, but also to rethink the deterrence strategy deep inside the European continent . His proposal is the gradual implementation o...
Read more

Lotta Comunista: The Origins 1943-1952

Guido La Barbera Contents 9. Preface to the English Edition 13. Preface 19. Useful dates 21. Chapter One «ONE OUGHT TO KNOW WITH WHOM ONE IS DEALING» 25. The balance-of-power theory 27. Theory and the ‘strategy-party’ 29. Chapter Two THE FOUNDRY AND THE PARTISAN STRUGGLE 31. The Savona group 39. Passion disciplined by reason 40. Never again a tool in the hands of others 41. The Genoa group 46. The Sestri Ponente group 48. The groups in Rome and Tuscany 52. The strength of GAAP: ‘only a handful’ 55. Chapter Three LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM: A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMMUNISM 58. Reckoning with Bordiga...
Read more

The National Gamble of Poland

Internationalism No. 33, November 2021 Page 3 From the series European News In a lawsuit brought by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the Constitutional Tribunal, which is composed of judges chosen by the government, ruled that fundamental parts of the EU Treaty are incompatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This ruling thus denies the primacy of European law over national law, undermining both the political assumption of continental integration and the supranational character of the EU . Vectors of Polish history We can shed light on this event if we consider the four field vectors that cross Poland: its traditional ethnic-religious nationalism, its marked Atlantic tropism, the objective attraction exerted by the European force field, and the looming threat of Russia. The general picture is global collisions: China’s irruption and the crisis in the world order have put pressure on Warsaw to define its st...
Read more

THE FOUNDRY AND THE PARTISAN STRUGGLE

Chapter Two   What forces were there for starting again, at the end of the 1940s? At the beginning of that road, you could count the core groups on the fingers of one hand: Genoa, its Sestri Ponente district, Savona, Rome. Of course, there were also Turin, Vicenza, Bologna, Milan, Bolzano, Trieste, Livorno, and a few sympathisers down South, but that was all it amounted to. Although there were periodic attempts at ‘linking up’ along the whole length of the peninsula, apart from the three Ligurian groups and the Tuscany-Lazio one, there wasn’t much more than a network of individual sympathisers. The Savona group Arrigo Cervetto , founder of Lotta Comunista and its undisputed leader until his death in 1995, was born in Buenos Aires in 1927, to a family who had emigrated from Savona. Returning to Liguria, he started work when still a boy, and in 1943 was taken on as an apprentice at the Ilva steel-making plant in Savona. The party ar...
Read more