Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Fears have grown in Europe about the possibility of a new world war, especially in light of the successive tensions in various regions, both within and outside Europe, and their direct and indirect repercussions on the continent. These fears began with the outbreak of the Russian war on Ukraine two years ago, and have intensified in light of the disagreements and tensions in relations between Europe and the United States after Donald Trump assumed the White House in Washington.
The past few days and weeks have witnessed significant discussions and debates, whether on social media or at various social events, about the fears of European citizens in several countries, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and others, about the possibility of a new world war. The latest opinion polls in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, indicate that six out of ten Belgians fear the outbreak of a new world war. This is evident in a survey conducted by the research agency Kantar among 1,060 Belgians on behalf of several newspapers and magazines, including De Zondag, Knack, and Trends. The results were published by the Belgian News Agency and some local newspapers.
62% fear the outbreak of a third world war, with a quarter even saying they are "very afraid." Unrest is more intense among French-speaking Belgians (74%) than among Flemish speakers (56%). More than half of the population (59%) fears that a potential war could reach their country as well.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) fear the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a war. Young people (aged 18-34) are more fearful of a potential war than those aged 55 and over. 12% already have an emergency kit at home.
According to media reports, Europe is entering a new era of rearmament, amid global uncertainty in a volatile geopolitical landscape. Old allies, such as the United States, are no longer allies, and enemies, such as Russia, are growing as the rules-based global order is shaken. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported that Europe is now betting on rearmament to confront US President Donald Trump. It boasts of its independence from the United States by moving forward with rearmament plans to support Ukraine under the leadership of French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who both yearn for empires hoping to rise from the ashes of the war from which Donald Trump chose to escape. About two weeks ago, the heads of the 27 European Union member states met to develop a joint strategy. Washington's shift with the Trump administration has left them in a state of open disgrace as they desperately try to save face, even though this move risks increasing the chances of a new world war, as the Russian Federation had a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with China 20 days before the special military operation in Ukraine in 2022.
In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, also German—meaning she hails from another empire swept away by history—proposed a European rearmament plan that would increase defense spending to €800 billion. It is expected to be formally presented on March 19 by Lithuanian European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius and Estonian Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Commissioner Kaja Kallas.
$150 billion is currently earmarked for an increase in the arms budget. Opposing voices at this military ceremony are Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who propose discussing the Ukrainian issue directly with Putin. The proposed plan to inject €150 billion into the European Union's defense industry has become a new flashpoint in the long-running dispute between the bloc's two main powers, France and Germany, over the motivation for rearmament in Europe and the extent to which military equipment should be sourced from countries outside the bloc.
The European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies stated that a changing geopolitical climate and accelerating global transformations are directly impacting international defense policies, from conventional armaments to military production and nuclear weapons. These factors have placed European Union countries in a dilemma, as they struggle to reorganize their priorities and budgets to keep pace with these changes, more than two years after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war. The European Center added, in a report published by the Spanish newspaper La Razon, that the changes in the global landscape did not stop there, but extended to the renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in addition to tensions between China and the United States, speculation about the fate of international treaties limiting the spread of nuclear weapons, and the future of NATO in light of the presence of US President Donald Trump. According to a report issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), nuclear weapons have not played such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War, evidence that the nuclear threat remains present. At the end of last May, Russia conducted tactical nuclear exercises near the border with Ukraine.