In another surreal week in which the Trump administration has revealed that it seeks to ‘aggressively pursue objectives of aligning Europe to the North American vision’ in numerous spheres – and Donald Trump’s tech ‘buddy’ Elon Musk has said the EU should be ‘abolished’ – former Portuguese prime minister and current president of the European Council, António Costa, has responded, saying “Europe is sovereign!” and cannot accept “the threat of interference in its political life”.
The ‘back off’ message followed the publishing of the United States’ new national security strategy last Friday which appears to be anything but national.
The document hones in on European institutions (which it claims undermine ‘political freedom and sovereignty’) migration policies, the ‘censorship of freedom of expression and repression of political opposition, collapsing birth rates and the loss of national identities and self-confidence’.
According to AFP (Agence France Presse), the document (allegedly penned by deputy president JD Vance) makes it clear that the United States under Trump’s leadership will be cultivating resistance to Europe’s trajectory by supporting “patriotic European parties” (ie parties of the extreme right).
It describes the continent as in danger of civilizational extinction “if current tendencies continue”, and refers to a “fruitless obsession with regulatory suffocation”.
As for the declarations of Elon Musk, these followed his receipt of a €120 million fine from the European Commission for breaking transparency rules on his ‘X’ social network.
In a long, rancorous series of messages, Musk accused Brussels of trying to restrict freedom of speech…
Attempting to take the best out of the situation, António Costa said in an intervention at the Jacques Delors institute yesterday that at least the strategy “continues to talk about Europe as an ally.
“That’s fine, but if we are allies, we must act as allies. The United States remains an important ally, the United States remains an important economic partner, but Europe must be sovereign.”
“The United States cannot replace Europe in what its vision is of freedom of expression. There cannot be freedom of speech without freedom of information.
“There would be no freedom of speech if citizens’ freedom of information is sacrificed to defend the techno oligarchs in the United States,” he stressed.
The situation is hugely delicate as the US strategy does not even cast Russia as a security threat.
The Kremlin, unsurprisingly, has praised the national security strategy.
Talking to the Telegraph, Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive at the European Policy Centre, said Europe’s nationalist parties – of which Portugal’s CHEGA is already the second most popular party in power – will be emboldened by Trump’s support for them and “intensify efforts to hollow out the EU from within”.
In this context, on Monday, EU governments agreed tougher rules on asylum and migration, including increased deportations, and extended detention for children and families, says the paper.
Unfortunately today President Trump doubled down on the new US approach to Europe, suggesting to many political observers that the ‘special relationship’ of the last 80 years may well be as imperiled of extinction/ ‘erasure’ as Mr Trump seems to think that Europe is.
Sources: LUSA/ ZAP/ Telegraph
