Europe has options, but they are limited and will be difficult to co-ordinate. The 27 members of the European Union, plus Britain, Norway, Iceland and war-torn Ukraine, need a plan they can all live with.

“European countries own $8 trillion of US bonds and equities, almost twice as much as the rest of the world combined,” Saravelos pointed out. “In an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part.”

Germans say they want a powerful military and EU nuclear deterrent to replace US hegemony, discomfiting Russia.

America needs Greenland “for the purpose of National Security”, he insisted. The two sides had “agreed to disagree”, Mr Rasmussen said, offering no hint that his government might compromise on the future of Greenland,

The dispute between the United States and Europe over the future of Greenland isn’t the first time the allies have been at loggerheads.Deep disagreements have flared up from time to time since World War II,

In a letter addressed to Catholic bishops across the continent, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius linked this call to prayer with the recent updating of the Charta Oecumenica, the key ecumenical charter for cooperation and unity among Christian churches in Europe, formally signed in Rome on Nov. 5, 2025.

Former Putin adviser Sergey Karaganov warned that Russia would use nuclear weapons against Europe should it ever come close to defeat.

Explore the timeline of key diplomatic disputes between the US and Europe, highlighting significant events that have shaped trans-Atlantic relations.