Reacting to the impasse on NATO mutual defense and the Paris accord on climate change, Angela Merkel, in a recent Munich beer hall campaign speech, implied that Europe is now on its own politically and economically: “ . . . the times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days.”
A few policy wonks in Germany (still only a very few) are beginning to openly discuss establishing a purely European nuclear deterrent, with France at the hub. It would operate independently of what they now see as an increasingly unreliable American NATO partner. Germany, France, et al could resort to this "Eurodeterrent" in the event of a US withdrawal of support from Europe or worse still, a USA-Russia rapprochement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/worl ... apons.html
Analysts say that the talk, even if it never translates into action, demonstrates the growing sense in Europe that drastic steps may be necessary to protect the postwar order in the era of a Trump presidency, a resurgent Russia and the possibility of an alignment between the two.