European Sentiment Compass 2025 Makes Global Headlines
26 Sep 2025
You will not have missed the European Council on Foreign Relations and European Cultural Foundation launched their European Sentiment Compass 2025, titled ‘Reality show. Why Europe must not cave in to Trump’s culture war’ in Brussels’ House of European History.
The paper begins on Trump’s soundstage. It builds on research from across the EU27 to show how Trumpists seek to shift the ideological centre of gravity in European politics, thus implementing what Celia Belin calls “Trump’s plan for Europe”. It then examines how the US leadership undermines European identity, and how the two levels form a single culture war. Next it expands on the state of European sentiment in 2025, highlighting both the strengths policymakers should build on and the obstacles they face. Finally, it shows Europeans the exit—and what may await them if they have the courage to use it.
The report struck a chord across global media-rooms. The Guardian reported: “Trump is waging a culture war on Europe by promoting rightwing allies.” In Euractiv André Wilkens and Pawel Zerka argued that Europe cannot shy away from this fight. As the Portuguese publication Público noted, the report uses The Truman Show as an analogy for Europe’s political situation, describing it as forced to react to crises created or aggravated by the Trump administration. Coverage in Le Figaro and Al Jazeera echoed the same conclusion: the Compass speaks to Europe’s most pressing questions of identity and belonging. Ukrainian 112 writes “Trump declares a cultural war on Europe: how the US intervenes in the internal affairs of the EU.” Simon Tisdall references the Compass in one of his The Guardian contributions. Sarah Wheaton speaks with Pawel Zerka – again – in her podcast EU Confidential.
The Compass-author, Pawel Zerka, was also interviewed on Euronews and in one of our favourite podcasts – The Europeans.
Additionally the Compass was covered by the Instagram accounts of EU and U and Olivia Lori. EU Made Simple summarized the report in an explainer:
