On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, France and Germany hold major ceremonies amid growing security concerns in Europe. While commemoration varies across the continent, the shift in defense priorities and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine underscore Europe’s heightened insecurity and the changing role of the US.

Solemn ceremonies will be conducted at war memorials in towns and villages across France on Thursday as the nation commemorates its fallen heroes and observes the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, a public holiday this year, as it is annually.

In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron will lay a wreath at the base of Charles de Gaulle’s statue, march up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, reignite the eternal flame at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, and review the military personnel. The observances will include a minute's silence, a rendition of the Marseillaise, a speech from Macron on the values that triumphed in 1945, military bands from six countries, a parade of French armed forces personnel, flags, wartime vehicles, re-enactors, and a flyover.

However, France is one of the few European countries that observes VE Day with such formalities. Other countries commemorate the day in a more subdued manner, without a public holiday, while some refer to it by different names or celebrate it on an entirely different day.

This year, as former US President Donald Trump strains the postwar transatlantic alliance and the deadliest conflict in Europe since 1945 continues to unfold in Ukraine, the differences between nations act as a potent reminder that peace in Europe is both recent and fragile.

“The 80th anniversary of the victory on 8 May 1945 implies, more than ever, a double responsibility,” the French Ministry of Defence said in a statement: “To the last surviving witnesses of the war, and to the younger generation.” In 2025, it is more crucial than ever that VE Day commemorations "honour the sacrifices of those who fought and suffered – but also pass on their testimonies and memories to today’s youth,” the ministry added.

This ambition is mirrored in Berlin, where for the first time, VE Day will be observed as a public holiday. Germany, like the rest of Europe, grapples with the changes that are eroding the postwar order which made it wealthy, stable, and steadfastly democratic.

In the capital, which has preserved a memorial landscape of the war and the Holocaust, a variety of events will take place including commemorations, exhibitions, witness accounts, theatre performances, public discussions, film screenings, concerts, and guided tours. Each former Nazi concentration camp on German soil, now preserved as memorials, has held solemn ceremonies to mark the liberation by allied troops this spring, gathering the remaining survivors.

Germany's newly elected Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will attend a remembrance ceremony in a war-damaged Berlin church, lay a wreath, and participate in the central anniversary event – a parliamentary commemoration in the Reichstag.

Europe has experienced several new, uncomfortable realities this year. The US under Trump no longer shares with Europe the values that have underpinned the transatlantic alliance since 1945. Europe has come to the stark realization that it can no longer rely on the US for defense.

The US peace plan for Ukraine, if it can be called that, involves engaging directly, and often deferentially, with Russia and seemingly adopting some of Moscow’s talking points. Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, put it succinctly: “The West, as we knew it, no longer exists.”

Recognizing how fundamentally Europe’s security landscape has shifted, European nations are rapidly increasing defense spending. Macron has set France’s defense spending goal at 3.5% of GDP this year, which is a €30bn (£26bn) increase annually. Merz has taken even more drastic steps, securing a significant boost to defense and infrastructure spending before he even became Chancellor.

Other countries are following suit. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states, and even Moscow-friendly Hungary and Slovakia are among 16 EU states triggering budget exemptions to allow for significantly higher defense spending.

Naturally, countries closer to Russia feel more alarmed and regard the issue as more pressing. Similar differences in perspectives were evident after the war and are reflected in each country’s approach to commemorating its end.

In Western Europe, including the UK, VE Day symbolized the restoration of liberty, the triumph of democracy, the end of Nazi aggression and occupation, the death of a generation of young men, and the horrors of the Holocaust.

However, the day is commemorated in various ways across Europe and on different dates. Belgium combines its ceremonies with Armistice Day on 11 November, which marks the end of World War I. The Netherlands and Denmark celebrate Liberation Day on 5 May. Italy, a former wartime ally of Germany, also marks Liberation Day – the victory over Mussolini’s puppet government – on 25 April.

For much of Central and Eastern Europe, the end of World War II signifies the beginning of life under Communist rule. Russia itself observes VE Day on 9 May due to the fact that when the ceasefire ended at 11:01 pm in Berlin on 8 May 1945, it was already the next day in Moscow.

This year, emphasizing Europe’s ongoing political fault lines, the Kremlin announced that Slovakia’s Moscow-friendly Prime Minister, Robert Fico, and Serbia’s ultranationalist President, Aleksandar Vučić, will attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow despite strong criticism from the European Union. In contrast, a counter-parade will take place in Lviv, Ukraine, attended by EU foreign ministers.

Some former Eastern Bloc countries, including Belarus and Bosnia and Herzegovina, continue to mark Victory Day on 9 May. However, others, like Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have switched to 8 May since regaining independence, choosing not to observe the day that marked the start of Soviet control.

Whatever VE Day represents to Europeans on its 80th anniversary, the profound security changes confronting the continent lend it extra significance. German historian Oliver Hilmes was less dramatic than von der Leyen but echoed the same sentiment when he remarked, “Who will protect Europe?” He continued, “You can certainly say: the anniversary of 8 May 1945 is catching up with us with a vengeance.”