Continuing our commentary series exploring European perspectives ahead of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, Łukasz Kulesa sets out Poland’s approach, balancing firm support for the Treaty with heightened security concerns, reaffirming non-proliferation commitments while prioritizing deterrence credibility, NATO cohesion, and pragmatic outcomes in a deeply polarised and uncertain global environment.
Following the recent US–Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent regional escalation, Europe’s response has been mixed. As the conflict widens, we ask members of the ELN Network how they assess Europe’s approach so far and what role European governments should be playing.
As the Greenland episode winds down following President Trump’s announcement of a “framework for a deal,” former U.S. diplomat Paul Fritch argues the saga was never about territorial acquisition, but a stress test of alliance cohesion in a world where Washington no longer treats cooperation and restraint as strategic virtues. The episode has exposed the limits of Europe’s cautious response to an America guided by hard power and transactional logic; he argues European leaders need to better understand what Trump views as weakness, and change their approach accordingly.
The second Trump administration has strained democracy, alliances, and the postwar order. Allies feel abandoned, betrayed, and disrespected, and the US retreat from the Global South has allowed Russian and Chinese influence to grow in its place. Europe confronts a painful reckoning, questioning trust, values, and its future role in an era of accelerating geopolitical change. To break this down, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Almut Möller, Director for European and Global Affairs at the European Policy Centre (EPC), and former senior Danish diplomat Signe Biering.
At the start of the new year, members of the European Leadership Network’s senior and younger-generation leaders’ networks offer their perspectives on their defining issue or policy trend to watch in 2026.
President Trump’s recent statement about the US resumption of nuclear testing has heightened concerns over a renewed arms race and the erosion of the global norm against nuclear testing enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project argues that the CTBT reinforces the NPT by bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation norm and constraining the development of new nuclear warhead types: sustaining it is a strategic imperative. States Parties to the NPT must work together to strengthen the CTBT’s credibility and relevance to international security and prioritise collective multilateral action over short-term security gains.