Security jitters as cloud hangs over US support for Ukraine, Nato

BRUSSELS - European heads of state and government were set to gather on Nov 7 in the Hungarian capital of Budapest to discuss their continent's security challenges.

- Jonathan Eyal

Uppermost in their minds was the challenge of responding to Donald Trump's election as the next US president.

French President Emmanuel Macron narrowly beat his European counterparts in the race to congratulate Trump by trumpeting France's good wishes on social media platform X in the early hours of Nov 6, even before Trump gathered all the necessary Electoral College votes to become America's President-elect.

All other European heads of state and governments quickly followed suit. Warm congratulations also came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has the most to fear from Trump's return to power.

But behind this jolly diplomatic facade, there is an acute sense of nervousness in Europe about the return to the White House of a man who has frequently dismissed the relevance of Europe, questioned America's security commitment to the continent and vowed to throttle the delivery of US weapons to Ukraine.

To complicate matters further, just as Europe hoped to be on its best behaviour by presenting a united front to the incoming Trump administration, the government of Germany collapsed on Nov 6, plunging Europe's biggest nation into political turmoil.

The timing could not have been more awkward for the entire continent.

When Trump stunned the world by winning the US presidency for the first time in 2016, the Europeans initially adopted a dismissive, patronising attitude.

Dr Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor at that time, famously sent Trump a lengthy letter outlining terms and principles the incoming US president was expected to adhere to if Washington wanted good relations with Europe.

However, the Europeans soon realised that, far from "taming" Trump, their haughty behaviour only infuriated the US leader.

His relations with Germany - particularly with Dr Merkel - went from bad to worse.