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Europe is experiencing a \u2018minilateral\u2019 revolution as its leaders huddle up with trusted neighbours and partners across the continent to build defence and security relationships. This political shift is driven by the twin challenges of growing threats, notably from Russia, and hostility from the Trump administration, which together have forced Europe\u2019s leaders to look for new ways to assert leadership.<\/p>\n
On a 18 November 2025, Prime Minister Starmer flew to Berlin for a\u00a0dinner meeting<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with his German and French counterparts in the E3 format, a grouping originally established to represent Europe in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Ultimately, there was little media coverage of the meeting other than noting that the leaders discussed the situations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Iran, as well as economic issues. Leaders expressed support for working together on foreign and security policy, and highlighted cooperation with Poland and Italy. The\u00a0E5<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 a\u00a0group having been set up<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>earlier in 2025 to bring together the continent\u2019s largest defence actors \u2013 had met days earlier at the defence minister\u2019s level (plus EU High Representative) to coordinate support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n The E3 Berlin discussions were soon overtaken by the emergence of a US-Russia peace proposal to end Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. Yet the E3 mechanism has been at the core of the various European political consultations to cobble together a response, with the national security advisers of France, Germany and the UK (plus Italy) attending the Geneva discussions on the peace proposal and the three leaders coordinating (with Ukraine) the drafting of an alternative (European<\/a><\/strong>) peace plan. Alongside the E3, the Coalition of the Willing, a group convened by the UK and France, involving 31 \u2013 primarily European \u2013 countries provided key support. At the same time, the Nordic Baltic Eight issued their own separate\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the peace proposal.<\/p>\n This emergence of sub-groupings of European leaders on foreign and security policy is not a new development. The frequency of such meetings has, though, become supercharged recently and there has been a proliferation of ad hoc formats as Europe\u2019s security crisis has escalated. Fundamentally, the new turn to minilateralism is a response to the difficulties that Europe is experiencing in asserting political leadership on foreign and defence issues through existing multilateral formats faced with a more hostile international environment and growing uncertainty of the US commitment.<\/p>\n