Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, making his New Year’s Eve address, said the change would force Europe to do more to defend itself.

Surging renewable output overwhelmed Europe’s power grid in 2025, driving electricity prices below zero more often than ever before.

Europe must assert its interests more strongly to ensure peace and prosperity in 2026 amid challenges from Russian aggression, global protectionism and changing ties with the U.S., German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in his annual address.

Storm Goretti has lashed France and northern Europe with violent winds and plunging temperatures, triggering widespread power cuts and travel disruption.

Storm Goretti lashed England and France with hurricane-force winds, causing widespread disruption as it swept through northwest Europe and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes.

PARIS/LONDON/BERLIN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Thousands of homes were blacked out, aircraft were grounded and train services disrupted as Storm Goretti hurled gale-force winds and heavy snow at northern ​Europe on Friday, compounding a week of freezing weather.

On December 11th Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary-general, said darkly that “we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured”. Days later Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton,

Gale-force winds and storms barrelled through northern Europe on Friday, claiming more lives, causing travel mayhem, shutting schools, and cutting power to hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures.

Glass, steel, aluminum, petrochemical, and automobile manufacturing, along with other energy-intensive companies and industries, are all shrinking or being exported from Europe to the U.S. or Asia, as U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Brussels Hub attendees. He called this “heartbreaking.”

Britain's Transport secretary characterized the security talks as "business as usual" rather than a direct response to Trump.