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Is Europe’s anti-missile project with Ukraine ‘insurance’ against unpredictable US?
Europe is ‘quietly planning for the day it might have to stand on its own’ while aligning with US calls to do more on defence, analysts say
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Cao Jiaxuanin Beijing
A new European anti-missile coalition with Ukraine is more of a strategic “insurance” policy rather than a break with Washington, according to analysts, as Europe prepares for a less predictable US security role.
On Monday, 10 European nations – including France, Germany and Britain – signed a joint declaration in Paris to establish the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition.
The push came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed European allies to accelerate efforts to strengthen Kyiv’s air defences before winter, as the war with Russia enters its fifth year.
While the agreement has been framed as a step towards European strategic autonomy, analysts said its immediate significance was political and diplomatic rather than military, and that it was not yet a substitute for US protection.
“This isn’t Europe breaking with the United States,” said James Downes, director of the Europe-Asia programme at the US-based Centre for Explanatory Research and Scientific Prediction. “Europe is quietly planning for the day it might have to stand on its own.”
Downes said the coalition was a calculated response to a changing political climate in Washington.
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