Europe is walking into the AI age with its guard down. This CEPA analysis warns that Russian propaganda is finding its way into AI chatbots, quietly shaping answers, narratives and perceptions. These systems learn from open data polluted by disinformation, state-backed media and manipulated content. Once trained, they repeat distortions at scale, with no intent and no context. The danger is blunt: Europe risks automating lies faster than it can correct them.

Four years into Russia’s war against Ukraine, Europe still looks like a slow learner. This RUSI commentary distils ten hard lessons from the conflict – and most of them point to European weakness, delay and dangerous self-deception. The war has exposed how unprepared Europe was for high-intensity conflict and how dependent it remains on others to sustain one. Adaptation has happened, but late, unevenly and often under pressure from events rather than strategy.

The European Union Institute for Security Studies has published on its web site the article “Financial dependence on the US: Europe's underestimated weak spot” by Steven Everts describing current transformation of global finances.

Europe is being told that more sovereignty will make it freer, stronger and better for the West. This Heritage Foundation argument claims that a Europe built on national control rather than Brussels micromanagement would be more dynamic, more democratic and a better partner for the US. The promise sounds neat – less regulation, tougher borders, sharper economic policy.

Europe is trying to run before it can walk – and it’s starting to trip. This CIDOB review asks a blunt question: has the EU lost its sense of direction by chasing global influence while its own foundations remain unfinished? Brussels wants to be a climate leader, a geopolitical player and an economic heavyweight all at once. But internal reforms lag, compromises pile up and delivery keeps slipping. The result is a widening gap between what the EU says it can do and what it actually controls.

Germany is talking itself into paralysis. This IP Quarterly examination argues that a deepening culture of pessimism is now shaping German politics, economics and security choices – and not for the better. Public debate is dominated by decline narratives, threat inflation and a belief that everything is getting worse at once.

Europe is confronting a darker kind of violence – and it does not fit the old playbooks. This Konrad Adenauer Foundation study examines the rise of nihilistic violence, a form of brutality driven less by ideology and more by alienation, rage and the desire for destruction itself. Unlike classic extremism, this violence is harder to track, harder to deter and harder to explain.

This RAND assessment argues that globalisation is no longer about free trade and open flows, but about power, leverage and control – and the EU is unprepared. Supply chains are being weaponised, markets are politicised and states now trade security for efficiency. Europe, by contrast, still behaves as if rules alone can protect it. The result is a bloc exposed to shocks it cannot shape and pressures it struggles to resist.

Europe keeps arguing about borders while quietly losing the future. This Project Syndicate argument by Nouriel Roubini says immigration is not Europe’s core problem – technological backwardness is. While the US and China pour money into AI, chips and advanced industry, Europe dithers, regulates and congratulates itself for caution. The gap is no longer theoretical. It is showing up in growth, productivity and power. Europe is not overwhelmed by outsiders – it is being outpaced by rivals.

Europe is already bracing for Donald Trump’s return – and the fear is palpable. This Heritage Foundation analysis says Trump is entering 2026 not as a side act, but as the dominant force shaping Europe’s choices, whether leaders like it or not. From defense spending to Ukraine, trade and China, Europe is reacting to Trump’s shadow rather than setting its own course.

Europe’s center-right is sliding back into a familiar and damaging habit – blaming America while tightening control at home. This Heritage Foundation commentary argues that conservative parties across Europe, once natural allies of Washington, are becoming more hostile, defensive and censorious. Under pressure from populists, culture wars and digital disruption, they are copying tactics they once criticised.

France talks like a heavyweight but increasingly plays like a constrained middle power. This Centre for European Reform analysis lays out an uncomfortable contradiction – Paris wants global influence, strategic autonomy and leadership in Europe, yet its room for manoeuvre is tightening fast. Economic strain, industrial limits and hard geopolitical realities are cutting into France’s claims of independence.

Europe’s labour market is losing its nerve – and the cracks are starting to show. This Deutsche Welle report, drawing on expert views from the Centre for European Reform, says firms are quietly hitting the brakes on hiring as growth sags and AI creeps into everyday work. After a brief post-pandemic moment when workers held the power, the mood has flipped – fewer vacancies, weaker industry and rising anxiety about automation.