European security, prosperity and democracy can no longer depend on the changing will of the United States.

The European Union faces unprecedented challenges at a time when the multilateral order based on the United Nations is being called into question. The strategy of appeasement towards Donald Trump – from the Atlantic Alliance summit to the deregulation of rules on digital technology, artificial intelligence and the environment, via the tariff humiliation of Turnberry – is not working. Concessions and accommodations have not reduced Trump's unpredictability and hostility. On the contrary, they have increased Europe's strategic vulnerability, resulted in an unacceptable capitulation plan for Ukraine and a declaration of political war on the EU in the form of a US national security strategy, in which he calls for a return to a Europe of nations and consequently announces an alliance with the continent's populist nationalist political forces.

Europe must therefore draw the necessary conclusions: its security, prosperity and democracy can no longer depend on the changing will of the United States. Strategic autonomy is no longer an option, but a necessity. The European Union must be able to act independently, take full responsibility for its own defence and defend its interests and values on the world stage with sovereignty and credibility.

A more productive and competitive Europe is a prerequisite for geopolitical power and social well-being. We must therefore ensure that the Letta and Draghi reports on the completion of the single market and European competitiveness are fully implemented by 2028. In addition, we need a multiannual budget that supports new public and private investment in key and innovative industries. We therefore call on the Commission to present a new proposal for a strengthened and more ambitious multiannual financial framework (MFF) capable of financing European public goods, including new priorities in defence and research, while preserving the social and environmental dimensions, cohesion and agriculture, respecting parliamentary control and the role of European regions and cities, and financed by real EU own resources.

But regaining competitiveness and modernising the budget is not enough to build a geopolitical Europe. Just as in 1950, we must focus on one essential point, namely the establishment of a common European defence supported by a stronger political union. Only a more federal Europe can meet these challenges, guaranteeing respect for our fundamental values and rights, unless we are prepared to accept Trump as the global political authority, in an ambiguous partnership with Putin and Xi Jinping. Aware of the threat to the EU's security and Trump's open hostility, confirmed by the national security strategy, we call on the Member States of the European Council to establish a common European defence, as provided for in Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union, which can also be achieved through new permanent structured cooperation between willing Member States in the absence of unanimity. This will constitute a European defence system capable of coordinating national armed forces in the event of an attack on a Member State. This requires the creation of an EU command and control centre.

More generally, EU institutions and leaders must make full use of the Lisbon Treaty, interpreting it in a federalist manner in all areas, as was done in response to the coronavirus pandemic, also following Draghi's call for «pragmatic federalism». The EU would not have been a trading power with this policy subject to unanimity. We must overcome veto-cracy in foreign policy, defence and finance. A stronger European budget, from which certain Member States would benefit, could be made conditional on their support for activating the bridges that would allow a move from unanimity to majority voting. At the same time, the European Council must follow up consistently on the Parliament's proposal to reform the treaties in order to abolish unanimity in the EU's decision-making system – budgetary and fiscal, foreign, security and defence policies, as well as enlargement, should all be subject to the ordinary legislative procedure – including with regard to future treaty changes.

We believe that the European Parliament can play a fundamental role in implementing the necessary institutional reforms, also with a view to enlargement. Firstly, by making its support for future annual budgets and the MFF conditional on the European Council's response to the above-mentioned demands. Secondly, by promoting an interparliamentary assembly (Assises) to advocate for the full implementation of these objectives, as well as an ad hoc European citizens' assembly to involve citizens and the European public sphere as a whole.

To this end, we support the creation of a renewed, cross-party and inter-institutional pro-European coalition, bringing together the most committed Member States within the European Council, the pro-European majority within the European and national parliaments, the European Commission and regional and local institutions, beyond the particular inertia of each institution, as well as pro-European organised civil society. We call on all of them to mobilise at local, national and transnational level to support these demands for a more sovereign and democratic Union.

A group of political and intellectual figures, including Jacques Attali, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Dominique Méda, calls for, in a newspaper column «Le Monde, to establish a more federal Europe and create a renewed, cross-party and interinstitutional pro-European coalition, which they see as the only way to guarantee the sovereignty of the European Union.

This text is based on the statement adopted by the Action Committee for the United States of Europe relaunched on 18 October 2025 at the Maison Jean Monnet, Houjarray/Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France.