US President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the EU are a “provocation,” the bloc’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has said.
Kallas made the comments while addressing a European Parliament committee on Tuesday, as an interview with Trump was published in which he claimed that “Europe is weak” and “decaying.” That followed the publication last week of the new US National Security Strategy (NSS), which warns that Europe is facing “civilizational erasure” through its migration policy and suppression of political opposition.
Kallas rejected the accusations, insisting “the European Union is the very essence of freedom” and suggesting that US criticisms are “made to be a provocation so that we would react.”
Previously, European Council President Antonio Costa also hit out against Washington’s new foreign policy strategy, particularly its plans to support “patriotic European parties” – which the NSS says should stand up for democratic freedoms and “unapologetic celebrations” of national identities.
Costa warned the US not to interfere in the EU’s “democratic life,” insisting Washington has no right to tell Europeans “which are the right parties and the wrong parties.” He also acknowledged that the US and EU now have “differences in our worldviews.”
Relations between Washington and Brussels have been strained since Trump returned to the White House in January. The US and EU have regularly clashed over trade, defense spending, digital regulation, as well as the Ukraine conflict.