Author Archives: James Lawrence and Ben Cope

Europe must federalise to survive in a Trumpian world

By James Lawrence and Ben Cope | Tue 4th March 2025 - 2:00 pm

The continent must unite to survive without America’s support. Federalism is the way.

The Europe we know and love is under threat. For President Trump, ‘America First’ means everyone else last, allies included. In a dizzying flurry of official announcements and offhand remarks, the man in the White House has undermined Europe’s economies, security, and ultimately, its very existence.

By threatening to withdraw military support for Ukraine, Trump has signalled America will no longer be the world’s policeman and protect Europe. The continent needs to stand on its own two feet. But it’s stumbling. Soon-to-be German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hit the right notes when he said “my absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” but there’s no plan to achieve it. When Trump asked Starmer if the UK could “take on Russia” by itself in an otherwise chummy meeting, he was met with an awkward laugh.

Without American support, Europe faces existential threats in a hostile world. We are simply not in control of our destiny. It doesn’t have to be this way, but it requires getting real about where our strength lies – together. A federal Europe, where both sovereignty and identity are shared between supranational, national, and local levels would give us the power to make our voices heard. Such a system works in America, dividing politics and culture between federal, state and county levels, and, on a smaller scale, in Germany. We are stronger united.