Greece at the Crossroads: Will Europe Remain a Spectator in Trump’s Second Term?

Caught betwixt NATO dependency and EU distrust, Greece indispensable choose: enactment oregon sidelining

ECFR report: Europe nether pressure

With Donald Trump returning to the White House in 2025, the transatlantic scenery has shifted sharply. A caller study by the European Council connected Foreign Relations (ECFR), titled Reality Show: Why Europe Must Not Cave successful Trump’s Culture War, warns that the European Union risks being reduced to a bystander—or worse, scenery—in a civilization warfare mostly scripted successful Washington.

The ECFR’s findings are clear: governmental polarization astatine home, ideological alliances abroad, and a signifier of EU responses that are reactive alternatively than proactive person enabled Trump’s imaginativeness of a reshaped Europe nether blimpish currents. The study uses nationalist sentiment information crossed the 27 member-states to amusement some rising strategical consciousness and persistent vulnerabilities.

Greece’s fragile position

Among the subordinate states, Greece is peculiarly exposed. In the ECFR’s analysis, the state is described arsenic a “tempter”, 1 that normalizes U.S. narratives alternatively than resisting them. This derives from respective cardinal factors:

• A historically beardown dependency connected the United States for security, reinforced by Greece’s strategical determination successful the Eastern Mediterranean and its relation successful NATO alliances.
• A comparatively anemic alignment betwixt nationalist sentiment and European identity. Despite precocious pro-European rhetoric among governmental elites, galore Greeks clasp distrust toward EU institutions—rooted successful the representation of economical crises and austerity measures. A inclination among Greek enactment to prioritize unchangeable bilateral relations with the U.S. implicit much assertive EU-led strategical autonomy. Concerns originate peculiarly implicit issues similar commercialized policy, tariffs, and integer regulation, wherever Greek vulnerability to American concern and markets is significant.

The hazard of passivity and the outgo of “spectator status”

Greece’s existent trajectory carries risks:

• If Europe plays on passively successful the civilization war—allowing outer narratives to specify its argumentation choices—then Greece whitethorn beryllium formed arsenic secondary successful decisions that powerfully impact its future.
• Tariff policies, commercialized tensions, and geopolitical alignments shaped by U.S. priorities tin interaction the Greek system sharply, particularly sectors similar agriculture, tourism, and commercialized with the remainder of Europe.
• Public disillusionment tin deepen—when citizens spot their state neither afloat protected by the EU nor sovereignly steering its agenda, religion successful institutions whitethorn erode further.

Opportunities for Greece to reclaim agency

Nonetheless, the ECFR study suggests that Greece, and different EU states, inactive person levers they tin pull:

• Rebuilding spot successful EU institutions by ensuring that argumentation decisions present tangible benefits: fairness successful trade, accordant regulation, and disposable European solidarity during crises.
• Supporting European strategical autonomy—not arsenic an abstract goal, but done factual policies: expanding defence cooperation, participating successful regulatory frameworks, and investing successful shared integer infrastructure.
• Aligning with EU partners who are resisting the displacement toward populist and nationalist models, and forming coalitions that support wide values, regularisation of law, biology standards, and quality rights.

Greece stands astatine a captious juncture. The ECFR study forcefully argues that Europe cannot spend to beryllium the backdrop for idiosyncratic else’s drama. If Greece does not asseverate its spot wrong the EU—as a afloat actor, not a supporting role—it risks being written retired of the parts that matter.

For Europe, the prime is arsenic stark: to beryllium authors of its ain communicative oregon to judge the whims of outer scripts. For Greece, the question is whether it volition reclaim its voice, oregon resign to echoing idiosyncratic else’s.

Source: pagenews.gr

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