European Council President Antonio Costa warned the United States against interfering in Europe’s affairs and said that only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.
Reacting to the Trump administration’s new national security strategy, Costa asserted that it’s “good” that the strategy depicts European countries as an ally, but “allies don’t threaten to interfere in the domestic political choices of their allies.”
Speaking at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank, Costa noted, “What we can’t accept is the threat of interference in European political life.” He added that the United States cannot replace “European citizens in choosing what the good or the bad parties are.”
The strategy, which was published on Friday, paints European allies as weak while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.
The security strategy is the administration’s first since President Donald Trump returned to office in January. It breaks from the course set by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, which sought to reinvigorate US alliances.
It comes as the US seeks an end to Russia’s nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine, a goal that the national security strategy says is in America’s vital interests.
However, the text makes clear that the US wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and ending the war is a core US interest to “reestablish strategic stability” with Russia.
The strategy was also critical of European free speech and migration policy. It said that US allies in Europe face the “prospect of civilizational erasure,” raising doubts about their long-term reliability as American partners.
However, Costa said that Europe’s “history has taught us that you can’t have freedom of speech without freedom of information.”
He also warned that “there will never be free speech if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.”
Kremlin Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov has said that the document “absolutely corresponds to our vision.” In an apparent response, Costa said, “If we read closely the part about Ukraine, we can understand why Moscow shares this vision.”
“The objective in this strategy is not a fair and durable peace. It’s only (about) the end of hostilities, and the stability of relations with Russia.”
“Everyone wants stable relations with Russia but we can’t have stable relations with Russia when Russia remains a threat to our security.”
Antonio Costa
Top EU officials and intelligence officers have warned Russia could be in a position to launch an attack elsewhere in Europe in three to five years should it defeat Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, German government spokesperson Sebastian Hille emphasised that Europe and the US are “historically, economically and culturally linked, and remain close partners but we reject the partly critical tones against the EU.”
“Political freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, belong to the fundamental values of the European Union. We view accusations regarding this more as ideology than strategy.
“The strategy doesn’t classify Russia as a threat; we don’t share this assessment. We are sticking with NATO’s joint analysis.”
Sebastian Hille
However, Hille insisted that “in view of the great security policy challenges, trans-Atlantic cooperation is now and will be in the future of central significance for our common security.”
Nationalist Parties In Europe To Be Emboldened By US Strategy Document
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive at the European Policy Centre think tank, said that stridently nationalist parties in Europe will be emboldened by the strategy document and “will intensify efforts to hollow out the EU from within.”
He noted that Pro-European liberal forces need to “finally wake up: Trump’s America is not an ally but an adversary to Europe’s freedoms and fundamental values.”
Zuleeg said that Trump’s objective is “to replace our democratic system with the illiberal populism now entrenched in the US.”
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