ABSTRACT
Many issues unrelated to defence and security, both within Europe’s borders and beyond, will help determine the continent’s strategic future. The future development of the eurozone, for example, will have implications for the cohesion of European foreign policy. The complexities of the system also give considerable power to a few insiders, not all of whom are elected. As the European Parliament, the only directly elected European Union institution, pushes to increase its policymaking role, it confronts a presentational problem: it appears to be at least as interested in expanding its own authority and budget as it is in supervising and checking the power of the executive. A related internal challenge, not unique to Europe, is the rise of illiberalism. Anti-mainstream movements across Europe have been enabled by Trump’s victory in the United States (US). Europe and the US do not always walk in lockstep.
