Europe’s leaders have long known the region is living beyond the means of its ageing, stagnant economy. The question is whether the ructions created by Donald Trump’s second White House term mean they will do something about it.

Less than a month after the president was sworn in, the continent’s once staunch U.S. ally declared it was done paying to keep the peace in Europe. Trump, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into ‘Uncle Sucker'”.

One option for Europe might be to hope Trump’s departure in four years’ time will allow the transatlantic bond to be restored.

But the mood at the Munich gathering suggested that European leaders finally accept that America’s pivot away from their continent – signalled in less confrontational terms over a decade ago by Barack Obama – means they must now step up.