Criticism of new US security strategy

Berlin (dpa) – In the view of Council President António Costa, the European Union must draw consequences from the new U.S. national security strategy. The threat of interference in the political life of Europe is unacceptable, the politician said at a conference of the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris. The United States could not take the place of European citizens and decide which parties are good and which are bad. “Allies do not threaten each other with interference in their political life and their domestic political decisions,” he emphasized.

In response to the strategy, the EU should now, in Costa’s view, make itself consistently independent of the USA. He also spoke out in favor of Europeans taking over leadership within NATO in 2027. However, he did not elaborate on exactly what he had in mind.

Criticism also from Germany

The deputy spokesperson of the German federal government, Sebastian Hille, said in Berlin that the government basically shared the analysis on many points. He justified this with the “fundamental idea that we have to think of our security in broad terms.” Europe and the USA were also historically, economically and culturally connected and would remain partners. However, the federal government rejected the critical tones toward the EU voiced by the government under U.S. President Donald Trump, Hille said. The accusations were seen more as ideology than as strategy.

Controversy over Russia

Germany does not share the view that Russia is no longer seen as a threat, Hille said explicitly also on behalf of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Rather, it remains the consistent assessment of Germany and its European partners that “Russia is the greatest threat to stability, peace and freedom in Europe.”

In its new security strategy, the USA complains, among other things, of a loss of democracy and freedom of expression in Europe. On migration, it says that Europe’s alleged economic decline is overshadowed by the danger of a “civilizational extinction.” The Trump administration accuses European politicians of a political blockade in the struggle for peace with Moscow. This, it says, makes it more difficult to restore stability on the continent.

German foreign minister rejects U.S. advice

Sharp criticism had already come from Germany and other European states. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said of the critical remarks on freedom of expression that he did “not believe that anyone needs to give us advice on this.” Norbert Röttgen, foreign policy expert of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland: “For the first time since the end of the Second World War, the USA is no longer standing at the side of the Europeans.”

Green Party leader Franziska Brantner is therefore relying on enhanced security policy cooperation in the EU: “Anyone who still relies solely on national rather than European security is endangering the freedom and security of all of us in Europe,” she told the Funke media group. The leader of the Left Party, Ines Schwerdtner, called in Berlin for a strengthening of European sovereignty. “That means that the German federal government really must also dare to break with the Trumpists.” (December 8)