ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter summarises the main findings of the other chapters as a basis for a comprehensive discussion of the policy dilemmas Europe faces. It argues that the emerging cold war between China and the United States (US) forces a paradigm shift on Europe’s relations with the rest of the world. The European project, indeed, the European way of life, will be sustainable only if European democracies seriously pull together and finally accept the European Union’s (EU) responsibility to fend for itself. Complacent reliance on US backing will become ever more risky. Instead of taking Washington’s interest in the old continent for granted, Europe urgently needs to build up its own defense capabilities and seek support for the defense of rule-based multilateralism from whichever side that might help it in a given issue area. While Europe should jettison neither the transatlantic alliance nor the project of more effective global governance, growing US-China tensions require it to put greater emphasis on stabilizing its own neighbourhood and on coping with military contingencies in its own vicinity. Europeans need to realise that a more confrontational and volatile international system requires them to become more capable, flexible and pragmatic, even though this may sometimes undermine time-honored transatlantic bonds and circumscribe their preference for a value-based external policy.
