As EU considers its place in a post-American West, others wait to see where it settles

Food for 72 hours, cash, a long-wave radio, matches, a first aid kit, and even board games to pass the time.

If there was any doubt about how Europe was feeling about its place in today’s turbulent world, the European Commission laid it out in black and white when it urged the citizens of the EU’s 27 members to stockpile a three-day survival kit.

In recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shaken Europeans’ sense of peace and stability. The return of US President Donald Trump in January confirmed to many that the post-war era that allowed Europe to thrive had come to an end.

“I think the West, in the geopolitical sense, is rapidly falling into pieces,” said Hans Kribbe, co-founder of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics. “And this has major repercussions also for how the EU relates to the rest of the world, to the UK, to China – to everywhere.”

In Europe’s capitals, a lively debate has started around what comes next. Where does the European Union sit in a multipolar world after 80 years in which it benefited greatly from the Western order established by the United States?