Navigating the great churn in global relations

The European summit convened by British Prime Minister (PM) Keir Starmer in London on Sunday gave further indication of the massive changes in global power relations triggered by the advent of the second Donald Trump administration in the US. This emergency gathering of the “willing coalition” of leaders from 20 European countries, among them French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian PM Georgia Meloni, called in the wake of the recent disastrous diplomatic encounter between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has pledged support to Kyiv and promised to secure its sovereignty independent of Washington’s reset in its relations with Moscow. Starmer described the current juncture as “a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of Europe and we all (European nations) need to step up”.

Contrast this with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s description of Trump as a pragmatist and his accusation that Europe was stalling peace efforts in the continent. The Trans-Atlantic alliance of the US and Western Europe, forged in the heat of Cold War politics, is on unsteady ground as America gets down to repair its fraught ties with Russia. For sure, the London meeting — and Zelensky himself — was careful not to antagonise the transactional Trump administration, but Europe is aware that it needs to secure its defences regardless of Washington’s legacy commitments. While it’s comforting that all parties are committed to peace in Ukraine, it is also important that Kyiv is not bullied into a truce that compromises its national interests and rewards the aggressor.

New Delhi will need to navigate this emerging multipolar world carefully. The productive discussions with the European Commission last week suggest that it is on the right track: New Delhi and the European Union have agreed on greater cooperation in defence and security and a free trade agreement is expected by the end of this year. New Delhi needs to play its cards astutely and translate its friendship with Washington, Moscow, Gulf countries, and European nations into stable bilateral relationships and facilitate the smooth inflow of capital and technology.

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