Europe builds NATO workarounds

European governments are building backup ways to organize defense if Washington slows or blocks NATO action under President Donald Trump. (politico.com) The immediate trigger is political, not technical: POLITICO reported on April 22 that the White House has drawn up a “naughty and nice” list of NATO countries as it weighs penalties for allies that refused to back the Iran war. (politico.com) The workarounds now under discussion include using European-led groupings, running planning outside normal NATO channels, and testing the European Union’s own mutual-assistance clause if a member state is attacked. Bloomberg reported on April 17 that European Union ambassadors and defense ministers are preparing simulations of that clause, Article 42(7), with a May meeting in Cyprus on the calendar. (politico.com) (bloomberg.com) Article 5 is NATO’s core promise: an attack on one ally is treated as an attack on all. The European Union has a separate clause, Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union, that says member states owe “aid and assistance by all the means in their power” if another member suffers armed aggression on its territory. (nato.int) (eur-lex.europa.eu) European officials are not saying NATO is being replaced. The legal text of the European Union clause says those obligations must stay consistent with NATO commitments for countries that belong to both, which is why the current push is framed as insurance rather than a formal substitute. (eur-lex.europa.eu) (politico.com) The shift is also showing up in national military plans. Germany on April 22 unveiled a new strategy, “Responsibility for Europe,” as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin wants the Bundeswehr to become Europe’s strongest conventional force and kept a target of 260,000 active troops. (bmvg.de) (reuters.com) Smaller coalitions are moving too. The U.K.-led Joint Expeditionary Force — 10 northern European countries including Britain, the Nordic states and the Baltics — met in Helsinki on March 26 and said it would deepen regional security cooperation and responses to threats such as drones and attacks on infrastructure. (gov.uk) The background is years of pressure to make Europe less dependent on U.S. assets that NATO still relies on heavily. A 2025 European Parliament briefing said the European Union remains heavily dependent on NATO, especially American capabilities, even as uncertainty under Trump has intensified the push for greater European responsibility. (europarl.europa.eu) What happens next is less about a treaty rewrite than about drills, command habits and political muscle memory. If Washington stays reliable, these plans may sit in the background; if it does not, Europe wants mechanisms it has already tested. (politico.com)