Time to Give Up On the Americans? Reflections on a new recommendation to the Dutch government

The starting point for this report by the official Advisory Council on International Questions (Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken, AIV) was not really open-ended, and so the title lacks a question mark. It is simply “time for new steps” in the pursuit of European security—including for the Netherlands. And no matter how precise and nuanced the writing here, these steps do not simply extend existing policies; rather, they represent a change of course. Much more than in the past, the Netherlands, according to this report, ought to put its energy and resources toward the development of European capabilities and institutions. It should no longer seek to balance as evenly as it has long sought to do between European and Atlantic components. NATO is just not what it used to be.