Policy Brief n.51 - The 2025 US National Security Strategy and the Strategic Repositioning of Europe

The 2025 United States National Security Strategy (NSS) marks a significant turning point in American global strategy and, therefore, in the architecture of the transatlantic relationships. This paper presents the core principles outlined in the Strategy and examines the ensuing consequences if the Strategy is implemented, with respect to the redefinition of NATO’s role, and the strategic implications for Europe. The central objective of the Strategy is to reduce American global overextension and reallocate diplomatic, industrial and military resources toward the long-term structural competition with China. Within this framework, the United States expects Europe to become a provider of stability, rather than a consumer of security. 

The US NSS clearly states that Europe remains vital for the US strategic interests, but not unconditionally. To that extent, it presents an assessment of Europe’s internal vulnerabilities. It does so with two approaches: an ideological, ethnonationalist approach, echoing arguments of the MAGA movement, that comments on European ‘civilizational erosion’ and hints at meddling in the European values and the internal political process. This amounts to external interference in the EU democracies, and as such it cannot be accepted by the EU political system, potentially leading to an increased divide between the two areas.  

Another interpretation however reads the NSS through the lens of a more hard-headed, power-based approach by the US. The latter starkly identifies economic stagnation, demographic decline, political fragmentation and institutional rigidity as structural weaknesses that undermine the Old Continent’s articulation of policies. These weaknesses, according to the Strategy, prevent Europe to contribute to stability in the Eurasian continent, and therefore do not serve the US interest. For this reason, the NSS challenges Europe to undertake a profound transformation, so as to be able to contribute to global security within the Western alliance. 

In the paper we posit that a similar pragmatic approach has to be adopted by the European Union, as there are no short-term alternatives to the alliance with the United States. We therefore discuss the conditions under which, in ways consistent with the new NSS, increased defence spending, technological alignment, industrial consolidation and strategic responsibility can, if governed effectively, generate a virtuous cycle of innovation, competitiveness and renewed political cohesion for Europe.