The EU's Familiar Pivot to Power
The European Commission will send Commissioner Dubravka Suica as an observer to former President Donald Trump’s self-styled “Board of Peace” meeting in Washington. This seemingly neutral act of observation, reported by Al-Monitor, signals a willingness among European institutions to engage with a figure whose previous foreign policy tenure saw them frequently sidelined and often undermined.
Brussels presents this as maintaining dialogue, yet it fits a well-established pattern of European officialdom hedging its bets by appeasing the anticipated US administration. Connect these dots: In 2003, European leaders, despite widespread public opposition and intelligence doubts, eventually fractured and some backed the US invasion of Iraq, an intervention premised on since-discredited WMD
claims. Fast forward to 2011, when France and the UK, with EU backing, joined the US-led “humanitarian intervention” in Libya, which plunged the nation into chaos and led to slave markets. Now, in 2026, the EU again positions itself to observe a US initiative, irrespective of its known architects or past precedents. The declared purpose of “peace” often serves as a flexible banner under which
geopolitical interests are advanced, often at great cost. This pattern of tacit approval, or at least polite attendance, continues despite rhetoric about European strategic autonomy. The EU, a recipient of substantial US aid in its formative years through the Marshall Plan (1948-1951), has consistently shown a profound inability to chart an independent foreign policy course when faced with a