The transatlantic alliance is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to meet its maker.
Authors: Alberto Alemanno & Stefan de Vries
Even the most committed Atlanticists must now concede that, following the disgraceful treatment of Volodymyr Zelensky by Donald Trump and his vice president on Friday, the relationship between the United States and Europe is now the equivalent to Monty Python’s infamous dead parrot. The illusion of unity has shattered. In today’s geopolitical landscape, Europe has little choice but to take the next and most daring step in its constant evolution: the dissolution of the nation-state.
In the grand experiment of human governance, the European nation-state, its own invention, has begun to fray at the edges. Its neat borders, once engines of power and identity, now feel more like constraints than safeguards. They were well-suited for organising industrial economies, conscripting mass armies, and projecting global influence in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But today, those same borders limit Europe’s ability to meet continental and global challenges.
The signals are everywhere. As Donald Trump launches frontal attacks on the European project, our national leaders respond with timidity or paralysis. History, it seems, has returned with a vengeance. Once the guarantor of European stability, the United States has turned inward and, at times, even hostile. The Pax Americana that enabled integration and prosperity is evaporating, replaced by an unpredictable actor whose interests no longer align with Europe’s.
From Giants to Dwarfs
Individually, Europe’s nations are no match for the scale of today’s great powers. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, pales beside the technological and demographic giants of China, India, and the United States. European companies are squeezed between American digital monopolies and Chinese state-backed innovators. National militaries, even the strongest among them, struggle to sustain full-spectrum capabilities. And in trade, no European country can single-handedly negotiate on equal footing with Washington or Beijing.
The illusion of national self-sufficiency persists, but the facts contradict it. The nation-state, once the cornerstone of order, now appears increasingly obsolete. Between 1815 and 1945, it structured European power, often through conflict. But the devastation of two world wars laid bare its limits and gave birth to a new vision: one of cooperation, integration, and peace. The European Union is that vision’s imperfect but essential heir.
A Slow Awakening
Europe’s long post-war slumber, cushioned by American protection, allowed it to postpone difficult conversations. But with that cushion gone, the question can no longer be avoided: will Europe continue as a collection of vulnerable nation-states, or will it mature into a genuine political community with the scale and legitimacy to act?
The answer lies not in mimicry but imagination. Federal systems such as Switzerland or (until recently) the United States offer useful precedents. Yet Europe need not replicate them. It can forge something more ambitious: a democratic polity beyond the nation-state, designed for the transnational age.
Democracy Without Borders
The usual objection is democratic legitimacy. Critics warn of a distant, bureaucratic Europe detached from its citizens. But this critique assumes a static model of governance. What if Europe reinvented democracy for the 21st century?
Imagine this: by 2040, the European Union has become a post-national federation. Its Parliament holds full legislative and fiscal authority, elected through transnational lists. The European Commission has evolved into a true executive, accountable to voters. Regions, not just member states, exercise real power over healthcare, education, and culture. Citizens routinely participate in Europe-wide deliberative assemblies. Digital platforms allow them to propose and vote on legislation across borders. From Kraków to Cádiz, young Europeans debate policy in real time, shaping institutions that reflect their shared destiny.
Ukraine is not an exception to this vision, it is central to it. By fighting for its sovereignty, Ukraine affirms the very principles —self-determination, democracy, collective security— that underpin a united Europe. Its future is inseparable from Europe’s post-national promise.
A Necessary Leap
Of course, none of this will happen by inertia. It requires leadership, honesty, and courage. European leaders must stop hiding behind technocratic language and start speaking plainly about scale, sovereignty, and solidarity. Sovereignty shared is not sovereignty lost, it is sovereignty reimagined.
The alternative is managed decline. Without defence integration, Europe will remain exposed. Without fiscal unity, it will lack the tools to respond to crises. Without democratic renewal, it risks alienating the very citizens it seeks to serve.
Europe invented the nation-state. Now, it has the opportunity to pioneer what comes next. The structures are already in place—from the single market to the ECB, from Erasmus to Europol. What remains is to animate them with a renewed democratic spirit and a shared political will.
The nation-state has served its season. That season is ending. Europe’s choice is stark but clear: evolve or end up, like the transatlantic alliance, as little more than a nostalgic memory of a parrot long since dead.
Alberto Alemanno is Professor of EU Law at HEC Paris and a Democracy Fellow at Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Stefan de Vries is a European Affairs Correspondent for BNR (The Netherlands). He is currently writing a book on the future of Europe.
