The European Union responds to Donald Trump. The President of the European Council, António Costa, stated this Monday that the EU will not accept any “threat of interference in European political life”, after the United States published its new security strategy, in which it harshly criticizes the migration policy of the countries of the Union. “I see a lot of people trying to make less of Europe. Why? Because the EU is strong. And we are working to strengthen it even more,” he said this Monday.
“If we are allies, we must act as allies, and allies do not threaten to interfere in the internal political life of their allies, they respect it; we cannot accept this threat of interference in the political life of Europe,” stressed the President of the Council at the annual conference of the Jacques Delors Institute, in Paris.
In the new US security strategy, published last Friday, the Trump administration spoke about the possible “end of European civilization” in the next two decades due to “immigration policies, censorship of freedom of expression, plummeting birth rates and the loss of national identities and self-confidence.” Trump aims to feed and support the “patriotic” parties of Europe, as he calls them, in reference to all far-right and Eurosceptic formations.
The document, according to the EFE agency, questions the ability of European countries to continue as “reliable allies” if they do not have “strong enough” economies and armies, in addition to criticizing their “suffocating” bureaucratic barriers.
Costa has admitted “differences” in the relationship between the United States and Europe, and has recognized that “the alliances forged after the Second World War have changed,” because Brussels and Washington “no longer share the same vision of the international order.”
“We continue to be defenders of multilateralism, we believe in an order based on rules, we believe in science, in scientific freedom and we do not ignore global challenges such as climate change. The United States no longer believes in multilateralism or in an order based on rules, and they affirm that climate change is a lie. We have differences in our vision of the world,” said the Portuguese.
Costa believes that “it is natural” that Europeans and Americans “do not share” the same opinions on certain issues, but considers that “interference in European political life” is unacceptable for the community bloc. Even so, he values positively that the US strategy “continues to refer to Europe as an ally” and emphasizes that the United States continues to be an “important” ally and an “essential economic partner” for Europe.
Regarding security and defense, the President of the Council defends that “in 2027, Europeans must assume the leadership of NATO”, now in the hands of the United States, because “if we want to be strong on the international stage, we must be strong internally.” He has vindicated the position of the European Union on the international stage and stressed that “the world is not only made up of the US and China”, but is “multipolar and diverse”, in reference to countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia.
“We are not going to exist on the international stage without commercial power. We have to interact with all countries, throughout the world. If we do not do so, we will be left alone,” he concluded.
Source: www.eldiario.es
