The National Security strategy that the United States announced last week has made the main world powers react. The declaration of intent put forth by the leader of the White House, Donald Trump, speaks of a Europe of political repression, without freedom of expression, at risk of annihilation due to immigration policies and puts on the table the will to promote resistance to Europe’s current trajectory in the member states. Brussels tries to stop Washington. The first to come forward was the president of the EU Council, Antonio Costa, who assured that the EU cannot “accept this threat of interference in political life”.
In a speech before the Jacques Delors Institute, the Portuguese socialist was questioned by the press about the strategy announced by the White House. “I can’t fully answer your question. I don’t have total freedom of expression, it’s a shame,” he ironized.
His subsequent response was more forceful: “we cannot accept this threat of interference in the political life of Europe. The US cannot replace the Europeans when deciding which are the correct parties and the incorrect ones”, in relation to that vision of hope that Trump casts on patriotic political formations.
This is how the EU rejected the North American Executive’s attempt to influence community policy with a direct support for far-right formationsa perspective that the American vice president, JD Vance, had already advanced by supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany in the German elections.
“Vice President JD Vance’s speech in Munich and President Trump’s various messages on X They are now officially US doctrine. We must take note and act accordingly,” said the Portuguese politician.
Trump’s strategy reveals a different perspective on Washington. Costa considers that The US “no longer believes in multilateralism” neither in the rules-based international order nor in climate change”, a clear distance from EU policies, despite the fact that they are the largest trading partners in the world and, therefore, continue to be allies.
“We need more than just new energy, we need to focus on building a Europe that must understand that Relations between allies and alliances after World War II have changed“, has maintained the president of the European Council. This is a reply to Trump, who describes an EU that is “lack of realism” regarding the war in Ukraine. A reply to the tactical approach that expresses affinity with Moscow after a profound change with respect to the scenario of the Second World War.
“But if we are allies, we must behave as allies. And allies do not threaten to interfere in democratic life or in the internal political decisions of those allies. They respect each other. Mutual sovereignty is respected,” added the Portuguese.
The US document advocates that “Europe remains European, may it recover its self-esteem as a civilizationand to abandon its failed approach in favor of the suffocation of regulations.” It is not that Costa has shown much surprise when highlighting the different perspectives between Europeans and Americans: “it is something natural. What we cannot accept is the threat of interference in European political life. “The US cannot replace European citizens when deciding which are the right or wrong parties.”
The White House’s criticism of the recent fine that Brussels imposed last week on Elon Musk’s social network, “he sacrifices himself to defend the technological oligarchs of the US”.
“Sometimes we doubt the power of Europe. But what I see is that there are many people trying to weaken it, and I wonder: If Europe is not strong, why do so many try to undermine it? Because the truth is that we are strong,” the Portuguese socialist concluded.
