In defiance of Donald Trump, is a European ‘security council’ emerging? | Paul Taylor

With the US threatening unilateral withdrawal, even from the top Nato military post, five European nations must fill the vacuum

In the face of Vladimir Putin's aggression against Ukraine and Donald Trump's destabilisation of the Atlantic alliance, an embryonic European security council is taking shape on the hoof. Whether it will prove strong enough to protect Europe's liberal democracies and deter Russia without US military support may be tested all too soon.

Nato was created under US leadership to keep the Soviet Union at bay while suppressing centuries-old rivalries among European powers. The alliance stayed united through the cold war and attracted new central European members after communist rule collapsed. But the spectre of US disengagement now threatens to leave Europe without its nuclear-armed protector.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre