It seems incredible that a year and a half after Donald Trump's return to the White House, Europeans still haven't reached a common position on how to deal with him. And this despite the fact that, before the war in the Middle East, there was the tariff crisis and the Greenland incident, where his arrogant and erratic behavior was already on full display. In the case of the attack on Iran, there was no common and coherent response until Trump made a decision that clearly goes against European security, such as lifting the embargo on Russian oil. Now, finally, it seems that this decision has united all European leaders (except for the usual suspects like Orbán).

Von der Leyen's statement sends shivers down your spine, like the clang of a tombstone being laid: "Europe can no longer be the guardian of the old world order, of a world that is gone and will not return." Bam!

Fifteen years after the Fukushima accident, Europe is once again betting on nuclear energyUntil now, only a few member states—especially France, the European Union's leading nuclear power—had advocated for increased nuclear energy production and investment in the sector. Brussels had remained largely neutral, although in 2022 it yielded to French pressure to include nuclear power as a non-polluting energy source, classifying it almost as green energy. Now, however, the European Commission has fully aligned itself with France and believes that nuclear power must be expanded. "Europe made a strategic error by turning its back on a reliable, economical, and low-emission energy source," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her address at the nuclear energy summit held this Tuesday in Paris. The head of the EU executive and French President Emmanuel Macron have demonstrated their unwavering support for nuclear energy. Macron has called for more investment in the sector, especially now that the international geopolitical context is complex and dependence on hydrocarbons "can be an instrument of pressure and destabilization." The wars in Ukraine and Iran have made the vulnerability and energy dependence of many countries more evident, exposing them to escalating oil and gas prices. Nuclear energy accounts for 10% of the world's electricity production, with some 450 reactors spread across about thirty countries; France alone has 56.

“Not a single tear should be shed for the Iranian regime,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She continued: “[The Iranian regime] has inflicted death and imposed repression on its own people, causing devastation throughout the region.” Listening to her, it was hard not to think of the furious harangue a few days earlier by the Trump administration’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who, with a grimace and wild eyes, promised that “death and destruction will rain down from the sky” on Iran until the US and Israel consider it necessary. Perhaps President von der Leyen considers the destruction and death raining down from the sky by American and Israeli attacks preferable to the death, repression, and devastation imposed by the ayatollahs. For the Iranian people, whom she invokes, it seems they must be equally undesirable.

The past year has served to further showcase Trump's insolence as his way of being in the world and has contributed significantly to the erosion of democracy. If his second term was a worrying sign, the exacerbation of his behavior and actions has a contagious effect, creating a suspicious political regression. Let's not fool ourselves. Democracy is in danger. And yet, this is nothing new. We often forget that 72% of the world's citizens live under authoritarian regimes.

Trump has Europe in his sights. The US president is not a man of ideas, nor is he interested in culture. He views the world through a peephole and thinks only in terms of domination: imposing his perception of things as an emanation of a superior being. And this is especially true of Europe, which bothers him to the extent that Europeans don't always laugh at his jokes; on the contrary, they often provoke rejection and distrust. The danger arises when the Old Continent is experiencing a phase of peculiar weakness and bewilderment, as if it were unable to find its place in the world. The leadership of the European Union leaves much to be desired. There is currently neither a project nor a political authority to chart a shared course. And Trump takes advantage of this, as he did with the humiliating meeting with Von der Leyen on a golf course, an iconic symbol of the subservience of European leaders.

"From an economic standpoint, it's certainly not a good agreement, but it's more or less tolerable. The political cost is another matter." With these words, he described the trade agreement between Brussels and Washington Ignacio García Bercero, analyst at the think tank Bruegel and for 35 years EU trade negotiator. At an event this Thursday at the Círculo de Economía (Circle of Economy) on the impact of tariffs, García Bercero lamented the European Commission's strategy in the face of the aggressive trade offensive by the US government under Donald Trump: "It has given a certain image of weakness to the EU," he opined, since the EU has ended up signing an agreement that is "just an agreement."

The European Commission yesterday presented a new proposal in the digital sphere that significantly alters the regulations governing large technology companies and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in various sectors. Less than a year after the approval of the AI Act, a global milestone, a postponement of its implementation for a year and a half has already been requested for some aspects that were due to come into force this August. All of this is happening against the backdrop of constant reversals by Ursula von der Leyen's government in different areas, including environmental policy, and the lack of momentum behind the Draghi report regarding the bulk of its proposals. It is difficult not to link these shifts in policy to the demands of Donald Trump and the large technology companies, which are driving the growth of the United States. These companies have long complained about what they consider excessive European regulation, to the point that the US president – who has already secured multi-million dollar purchases of weapons, fuel and other products from Europe – had threatened more tariffs if the requirements for his technology companies were not lowered.

Conservatives believe that order comes first, so that justice and freedom can follow. Without the first, second, and third, order are impossible. Churchill expressed this in the 1930s. The political void and disorder from 1914 to 1918 made war inevitable in 1939.

Internal pressure on Brussels to finally impose sanctions on Benjamin Netanyahu's government has been growing, to the point of being unsustainable for the President of the European Commission. Years after the Israeli offensive against Gaza, Ursula von der Leyen—one of the most pro-Israel leaders in the EU—finally took the step and announced this Tuesday in the European Parliament that she will propose a series of sanctions against Tel Aviv. She announced the news during her State of the Union address, which marks the start of the political year in the European institutions, and the package of restrictions will include a "partial suspension" of the EU Association Agreement with Israel, and the blacklisting of Israel's "most radical" ministers and violent settlers from the West Bank. "What is happening in Gaza is unacceptable," the President of the European Commission remarked, taking a harsher tone than usual against the Israeli executive.

I confess that I cannot avoid this article at the beginning of the holidays having a rather grey tone, the result of the disappointment caused by the partial knowledge and the brief analysis that I have been able to make. from the agreement a few days ago between President Trump and President Von der Leyen on the future of economic and geopolitical relations between the US and the EU. I emphasize the adjectives "partial" and "brief" because there hasn't been complete agreement in the versions of the agreements published by both sides, and because I thought that perhaps we haven't learned everything that was discussed and agreed upon—or what was left pending and hasn't been said. I also can't help but say that, if I had to summarize in two words what I believe the agreement was, they would be: "imposition" on the one hand and "acceptance" on the other. The first, having known the protagonist for several months now, didn't surprise me; but the second, knowing von der Leyen's long career, surprised me, was difficult for me to understand, and left me very dissatisfied and worried.

While waiting for Brussels to publish more details, for now it is known that the trade agreement The agreement reached between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump will finally set tariffs on European products sold in the US at 15%. The fact that it's a US federal tax on products manufactured in the European Union may raise questions about who should pay it, when, and who is most directly affected.

The earthquake began on Sunday night, and the exact cause is still unknown. After months of threats, US President Donald Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at her golf resort in Scotland. to seal "the biggest deal of all", in the words of the Republican president, and avoid a trade war. Once they shook hands, the exact details of the agreement depended on who answered the question, with Trump very forceful on aspects such as the impact on products like steel and aluminum, and Von der Leyen qualifying what many European states have seen. like a defeat.

1. Portraits. Official photos often say a lot: their actors, by action or inaction, charge them with meaning. Setting: a golf course owned by Donald Trump. Protagonists: the President of the United States and the President of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen. Subject: a handshake to seal the deal. the trade agreement between the American power and the European alliance. You only have to look at Trump's defiant expression and von der Leyen's shy smile to understand what's going on: Europe's capitulation to the despotism of the American president.

"Those who do not go together are hung separately" ("Those who don't hang together get hung separately"). This is how a European diplomat expressed himself in the Financial Times about thetrade agreement between the European Union and the United StatesThe phrase recalls the need for the Twenty-Seven to unite before Washington to close a satisfactory pact, with the added irony that it is a quote from a founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, who uttered it during the conflict between the thirteen American colonies and the British Crown that led to the United States' declaration of independence in 1776. During her appearance on Sunday in Scotland with US President Donald Trump, the president endorsed the agreement, which leaves tariffs on European exports to the US at 15% and imposes a long, multi-million dollar list of unspecified expenses and investments that the EU will have to carry out in the US. The following day, however, arose amid an avalanche of criticism of the agreement from member states, employers' associations, and analysts. The continent's press, like some governments, spoke of European "submission" to Washington.

Those who wanted to believe that Donald Trump's aggressiveness could become an opportunity for European reaffirmation have already changed their minds. Faced with the frenzy of a transatlantic trade war, the EU has capitulated. With the handshake staged on Sunday in Scotland, Donald Trump scored another trade victory, heralded as always with superlatives, and Ursula von der Leyen, on behalf of the 27, accepted tariffs of 15% and an increase in the European trade bill with the United StatesPromises to buy more American oil and gas will be added to the defense contracts that are boosting US arms exports to record levels. And the current 50% US tax on steel and aluminum is still to be negotiated separately. The reorientation of European spending reflects a new reality. "It's the price of stability," justified European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on the plane from Brussels to Glasgow. The Europe with its head bowed, the one that months ago decided that this ordeal must be overcome by any means necessary, without dynamiting the already damaged transatlantic relations, seems to have taken definitive control of the reins of the community.

The week begins with a news full of presidents:

With the deadline looming, US President Donald Trump met this Sunday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to see if it was possible to break the deadlock on a trade deal that would avoid a trade war. After much back and forth, both economies agreed on a general 15% tariff on European exports, in line with the agreement the United States reached with Japan.

The European Union does not lose hope with Donald Trump and wants to take advantage of every last moment to try to reach a trade agreement with the United States. Despite the White House's announcement this Saturday of increasing tariffs by 30% in the European bloc, Brussels maintains a conciliatory tone and insists that its priority is reaching an agreement to avoid an escalation of the conflict. Therefore, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Sunday that the European club is postponing the entry into force of the retaliation it has prepared in case negotiations with the US administration fail.

After Lugano, London, and Berlin, Rome hosted the 4th International Summit for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, led by the European Union, on Thursday. The summit aims to mobilize public and private investment to boost the country's reconstruction process after more than three years of war. During the inauguration, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of a European fund worth €220 million to attract private investment, with the participation of Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and the European Investment Bank.