Europe Must Step Up to Ensure Own Defense as US Focus Shifts Elsewhere, EU Says

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said that Europe’s defense and security strategies must remain complementary to NATO.

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas addresses the European Parliament plenary on territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, in Strasbourg, France, on Jan. 20, 2026. Yves Herman/Reuters

Europe must “step up” to ensure its own defense as the United States’ focus shifts away from the continent, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Jan. 28.

Kallas said in her keynote speech at the annual conference of the European Defence Agency in Brussels that as the United States “is setting its sights abroad and beyond Europe,” the continent must increase its defense and security capabilities.