Editorial of December 2025 – Official Weblog of UNIO – Cyber Tech

On the ailing transatlantic partnership and its influence on European integration 

Alessandra Silveira [Editor of this blog, Coordinator of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “Digital Citizenship and Technological Sustainability” (CitDig), University of Minho] and Pedro Froufe [Editor of this blog and Coordinator of the Group “Studies in European Union Law” (CEDU), of JUSGOV – Research Centre for Justice and Governance, University of Minho)]

The US Nationwide Safety Technique, offered at first of December,^[1] is an official State Division doc that units out the basic pointers for US diplomacy – in different phrases, it defines how the US will relate to the remainder of the world over the following three years. The US Nationwide Safety Technique has been taken critically over time – and on this textual content we are going to assume that we nonetheless stay in a world the place there are adults within the room, regardless of the volatility of the concepts put ahead throughout the Trump Administration.^[2]  

What’s the relevance of this new US Technique for the world order?  The overall feeling is that, if taken critically, this Technique reconfigures the idea of sovereignty within the twenty first century.^[3] In different phrases, the Technique formally recognises the existence of zones of important curiosity, which the strongest states can naturally eliminate – a form of division of the world into zones of affect. This might justify the prominence of the US within the so-called “Western Hemisphere”, in addition to US entry to strategically very important belongings – wherever they could exist within the “Western Hemisphere”.

This means a revival of the previous thesis of “dwelling house” (“Lebensraum”) adopted and amplified with tragic penalties for all of humanity by Nazi Germany’s Third Reich.[4]  It is a geopolitical idea popularised within the Nineteenth century by Friedrich Ratzel and brought up once more within the twentieth century by Karl Haushofer – whose concepts have been exploited and utilized by the Third Reich. This concept of the indispensability of “dwelling house” was additionally detected in Vladimir Putin’s narrative, particularly in his justifications (at the very least in his preliminary ones) for the invasion of Ukraine by the forces of the Russian Federation.

The Technique appears anchored within the Nineteenth-century worldview of the post-Napoleonic period’s “Live performance of Europe”. The “Live performance of Europe” was the system of stability of energy that existed in Europe from the tip of the Napoleonic Wars, i.e. from 1815 to 1914, when the First World Warfare broke out. It was a imaginative and prescient of worldwide order and legislation based mostly on the power of powers and the mutual administration and respect of their respective pursuits. An order based mostly on army energy and a stability/peace ensuing from circumstantial pursuits and energy relations – though it proved to be comparatively secure till the First World Warfare.

Furthermore, a part of the narrative expressed by the Trump Administration clearly refers to a imaginative and prescient of an “American-centric” worldwide order, supported by arguments based mostly not on worldwide legislation or cooperation, however on using drive. Examples embrace Panama and, at present, Venezuela. Beforehand, there was the case of Greenland and threats to Denmark. In accordance with the logic of the “Live performance of Europe”, one can perceive the “deference” that President Trump has proven in direction of the positions/pursuits of the Russian Federation within the context of the battle in Ukraine.

Why is the US Nationwide Safety Technique significantly related to Europe? It’s so as a result of Europe is a part of the “Western Hemisphere”, and the Technique states that the US can not merely discard Europe, as doing so could be counterproductive to the targets of “American prosperity”. So, what’s going to the US do with Europe with out discarding it? It is going to drive Europe to appropriate its present trajectory by interfering in European elections and home politics. Extra particularly, it should encourage so-called European “patriotic events” (i.e., Eurosceptic and populist events) to domesticate “resistance to Europe’s present trajectory”. This hybrid risk of interference in European democracy is overtly acknowledged within the Technique.

However what precisely is unsuitable with Europe that must be corrected by the US? In accordance with the Trump Administration, Europe is prone to “civilizational erasure” as a result of insurance policies adopted by European establishments. And why? As a result of the European Union is undermining the political sovereignty of its Member States; it’s selling censorship of freedom of expression; it’s repressing political opposition from “patriotic events”; migration insurance policies are remodeling the European continent and creating conflicts; and falling start charges are resulting in the lack of nationwide identities.

Moreover, the Technique makes use of the time period “European Union” solely as soon as, whereas referring to the phrase “Europe” 49 occasions. By way of discourse evaluation, this isn’t a mere element, because it reveals that the European Union is a goal to be taken down by the Trump Administration. What the US needs is a Europe of countries, a Europe that abandons “its failed give attention to regulatory suffocation”.

Confronted with this unsolicited analysis, the European establishments needed to react, which is why the President of the European Council, António Costa, acknowledged that the European Union is not going to tolerate political interference from the US. In accordance with António Costa, Washington can not select, on behalf of European residents, which insurance policies are appropriate or which of them they need to vote for.^[5]

The related query on this situation was raised a couple of days in the past by Jürgen Habermas: can the European Union nonetheless escape the authoritarian affect of the US? What does this simple political division within the West imply for the European Union at the moment, provided that the Trump Administration has ceased to be a dependable associate? The issue is that the European Union can not but distance itself politically from the passive NATO member that the US has turn into. Although Individuals and Europeans now not communicate with one Western voice, the European Union stays depending on American technological help, primarily as a result of with out it the Ukrainian entrance couldn’t be maintained. Confronted with this dilemma, the one affordable answer for Europeans could be to unite if they don’t need to face marginalisation.^[6]

This unity requires deepening the federative parts of integration. The analysis has already been made and now calls for political decisions. It is very important full the inner market in areas which might be nonetheless nationalised; it is very important create industrial scale the place it doesn’t but exist; it is very important scale back paperwork to permit the market to operate; it is very important hold expertise and funding throughout the European Union. Nevertheless, it is very important achieve this with out abandoning the basic European values that determine it – dignity, freedom, equality, solidarity, democracy, the rule of legislation – as a result of with out these, the European Union doesn’t exist as such.

If we need to see the glass as half full, the Trump Administration’s Technique might turn into a catalyst for European strategic unity and sovereignty; if we need to see the glass as half empty, it widens the divide in European societies as a result of it gives exterior validation to Eurosceptic and populist events. However Europeans have been capable of stay with this division, as they’re accustomed to pluralism and polarisation in democratic societies, offered that the institutional circumstances for the alternation of energy survive.

Political pressure between the US and the European Union escalated throughout December 2025 as a result of the European Fee imposed a €120 million superb on Elon Musk’s social media platform X for violating transparency guidelines beneath European legislation – one thing Musk can problem in European courts, because the European Union he needs to dismantle remains to be a Union of legislation. Following that monetary penalty, the US threatened the European Union with retaliation if it didn’t evaluate its “discriminatory” laws within the digital sector – which, in keeping with Washington, have been unfairly punishing giant US know-how firms.

Nevertheless, European laws apply to all brokers who could have interaction in acts and/or omissions that fall inside their materials scope of utility. They don’t seem to be aimed solely at US firms – however in any respect firms!

Just lately, the US Secretary of Commerce went to Brussels to suggest a 50% discount in tariffs on European metal and aluminium if the European Union agreed to decontrol the digital sector.^[7] Furthermore, for a while now, this stress from the US has been contaminating the average proper wing of the European Parliament – which helps the von der Leyen Fee – regardless that the European Fee’s official line has all the time been to not give in to US stress for deregulation.

Nevertheless, in follow, worrying indicators have emerged. President Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech on the Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit on 1 October, reported that the European Fee has a number of legislative packages within the pipeline – dubbed “omnibus” and specializing in the inexperienced and digital transitions^[8] – which might signify a discount of €8 billion in paperwork. This will surely be excellent news if, for the primary time publicly, the President of the European Fee had not admitted that “simplification” successfully means “deregulation”.^[9] The European Union Ombudsman harshly criticised the Fee for procedural flaws in proposing the omnibus measures, stating that they amounted to maladministration, because the Fee had not adopted due course of in drawing up a plan to cut back paperwork.^[10] 

Alongside the identical strains, high-ranking officers from the European Fee have been publicly arguing that the supposed discount in paperwork is creating uncertainty for companies and chaos in European establishments. It’s definitely essential to keep away from duplication of effort, to align procedures, to streamline processes, and to supply larger readability to companies. However one can not go too far, as a result of deregulation eliminates the safety of people on-line, will increase prices for taxpayers, diminishes credibility within the European market, discourages funding – and, above all, widens inequalities and distortions.^[11] It’s attainable that they’re decoding the Draghi report too actually.  

In a Union that claims to be based mostly on the rule of legislation, simplifying the foundations is just not the identical as weakening safety or abandoning regulation^[12] – particularly since this undermines European requirements and damages confidence within the so-called “Brussels impact”. The European Union’s skill to affect different elements of the world, by regulating the ecological and digital transitions in a means that makes them truthful, is compromised if the remainder of the world concludes that Europeans have failed in any case. Moreover, your complete post-pandemic financial restoration in Europe is predicated on correctly regulated ecological and digital transitions. Furthermore, the Restoration and Resilience Plan (RRP) assets can solely be used to make sure each transitions. What is going to turn into of this method?

There is no such thing as a doubt that we face challenges so disruptive that they trigger some confusion amongst our elected representatives. It’s not straightforward to confront these “patriotic events” – which use scandal and incitement to hatred as a political technique. It’s no small feat to fight Putin’s army risk – with each day cyberattacks and drones invading EU airspace. It’s not straightforward to stay aggressive in an unequal technological race – since our opponents ignore our excessive requirements of elementary rights safety. Nevertheless, it’s exactly within the face of those challenges that it’s important to not lose sight of what unites us, the historical past and targets underlying the European Union, and the truth that our future is extra promising collectively.

Regulation and innovation should not antagonistic – they’re complementary. It’s not as a result of Europeans regulate the digital ecosystem that they don’t seem to be on the forefront of synthetic intelligence innovation, for instance. The explanation for that is that there’s at present extra funding obtainable within the US for such functions.[13] Right here too, it’s important to finish the inner market in order that capital can flow into with out nationwide boundaries and personal financial savings could be mobilised for innovation via the mixing of European capital markets.

[1] The White Home, Nationwide Safety Technique of the US of America, November 2025, Washington, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-Nationwide-Safety-Technique.pdf.

[2] Nahal Toosi, “Trump reveals what he needs for the world”, Politico, 12 Could 2025, https://www.politico.com/information/2025/12/05/trump-reveals-national-security-strategy-western-hemisphere-europe-00678265.

[3] Armando Júnior, “Nova estratégia de segurança nacional dos EUA reconfigura o conceito de soberania no século XXI”, The Dialog, 15 December 2025, https://theconversation.com/nova-estrategia-de-seguranca-nacional-dos-eua-reconfigura-o-conceito-de-soberania-no-seculo-xxi-271794.

[4] Pedro Madeira Froufe, “Editorial of March 2022 – Europe and Warfare”, The Official Weblog of UNIO – Pondering and Debating Europe, 9 March 2022,

[5] Sandor Zsiros and Maria Tadeo, “Council President António Costa says Europe is not going to settle for political interference in US rebuff”, Euronews, 8 December 2025, https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/08/council-president-antonio-costa-says-europe-will-not-accept-political-interference-in-us-r.

[6] Jürgen Habermas, “Can the EU nonetheless escape the authoritarian pull of the USA?”, Social Europe,
15 December 2025, https://www.socialeurope.eu/can-the-eu-still-escape-the-authoritarian-pull-of-the-usa.

[7] Peggy Corlin, “US to chop metal tariffs provided that EU agrees to melt digital guidelines enforcement in return”, 24 November 2025, Euronews, https://www.euronews.com/enterprise/2025/11/24/us-to-cut-steel-tariffs-only-if-eu-agrees-to-soften-digital-rules-enforcement-in-return.

[8] European Council, Council of the European Union, “Simplification of EU guidelines – Omnibus packages”, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/pt/insurance policies/simplification/#omnibus.

[9] European Fee, “Speech by President von der Leyen on the Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit”, 1 October 2025, https://ec.europa.eu/fee/presscorner/element/en/speech_25_2272.

[10] Marianne Gros, “EU watchdog slams Fee over red-tape reducing workflow”, Politico, 27 November 2025, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-watchdog-accuses-commission-of-maladministration-in-lawmaking-process/.

[11] Francesca Micheletti, “Pink-tape reducing has turn into a ‘horrible political spectacle,’ EU’s Ribera says”, Politico, 4 December 2025, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-red-tape-cutting-terrible-political-spectacle-teresa-ribera-says/.

[12] Romane Armangau, “EU should ‘stand by the guarantees made’ on digital guidelines, Vestager tells Euronews”, Politico, 25 November 2025, https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/25/eu-must-stand-by-the-promises-made-on-digital-rules-vestager-tells-euronews.

[13] Calder McHugh, “Why AI is a nightmare for the EU”, Politico, 17 December 2025, https://www.politico.eu/article/artificial-intelligence-regulation-europe-united-states/.

Image credit score: by Andrea Piacquadio on pexels.com.