François Picard is pleased to welcome former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. According to NATO’s Secretary General, Europe is entering a decisive strategic rupture, one that forces a long-delayed reckoning with its own dependency structures and security assumptions. The erosion of American commitment to European defence is not a hypothetical risk but an unfolding reality, exposing the fragility of a model built on external guarantees and internal complacency.
From this perspective, the future of European security depends on a structural transformation rather than incremental adaptation. This includes the strengthening of a distinctly European pillar within NATO, the development of autonomous deterrence capabilities, and a reconfiguration of defence production toward speed, scale, and technological relevance. At the same time, he highlights that the challenge is not only institutional but political and societal. Europe faces a deficit of decisive leadership and a lack of strategic cohesion, which undermines its ability to act in a rapidly evolving geopolitical environment. The response must therefore extend beyond military investment to include a broader mobilization of political will and public commitment. Ultimately, he contends that Europe must transition from a reactive to a proactive strategic actor, one capable of engaging in power politics with clarity, firmness, and autonomy. This requires abandoning illusions of permanence in alliances and embracing a more transactional and self-reliant posture in international affairs.