Europe ministers in Europe, “worried,” said on Monday that the region had entered a new era with the surprising reversal of decades of US foreign policy by President Donald Trump, but they still hoped that that The relationship with Washington could last.
European authorities were set aside by Trump’s decisions to maintain conversations about the end of the war in Ukraine with Russia, rejecting Kiev and Europe, and by the government’s warning that the United States is no longer focused mainly on the security of the Europe.
“It is clear that the statements from the United States make us worried,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, following a meeting of the European Union Foreign Ministers in Brussels. But she added that Europe and the United States had solved their differences before “and we also hope to do so this time.”
“Of course (the transatlantic relationship) will change. This is very clear, but we should not… throw something that worked well so far. ”
Previously, the winner of Sunday’s German General Elections questioned whether the Western Military Alliance Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) would remain in its “current form” until June and said Europe should quickly establish independent defense capacity.
“The age that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall is over,” said Netherlands Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, when asked about the remarks of Germany’s probable next chancellor.
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“As Europeans, we need to organize, not only within the EU, but with the British, Norwegians and other countries who want to participate, to face the new challenges presented to us, also by Trump,” Veldkamp said before the meeting in Brussels.
Eurasia Group analysts said in a note that events in recent weeks showed that “Europe is on the threshold of a much more dangerous world,” adding that their feeling was that the EU leaders were “freaking out.”
“What is clear now is that its ability to react in the coming weeks and months can help determine the form of international order – and its place in it – in the coming decades,” they wrote.
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The EU ministers agreed with another packet of sanctions against Moscow, to coincide with the third anniversary of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, before a flurry of meetings in Brussels, Kiev and Washington over Ukraine in the coming days.
EU leaders will meet in an extraordinary summit on March 6 to discuss additional support to Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defense needs.
“I would never imagine that I would have to say something like this on a TV show, but after Donald Trump’s comments last week … It is clear that this government doesn’t care much about Europe’s fate,” Merz told German public broadcaster told Merz. Ard after the electoral victory of his conservative coalition.
