Europe must “accelerate” towards “strategic autonomy” to respond to the president’s US administration’s new defense doctrine that prioritizes the affairs of the American continent and criticizes one it claims is in decline, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barot said today.
France is vindicated by the new American National Security Strategy
The publication last Friday of the American “Strategic National Security” is “a moment of clarification and truth that calls us to stay the course and speed up”, because it “vindicates France”, which “since 2017 has asked Europe to achieve strategic autonomy”, stressed Barro speaking to the National Assembly.
The Trump administration on Friday released a document presenting the new “national security strategy”, in which it predicts, among other things, that Europe is headed for “cultural annihilation” if it does not fight against “mass immigration”. “If current trends continue, the (European) continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less,” according to the text.
In the same tone, US President Donald Trump with sharp characteristics in an interview with Politico yesterday, said that “most European nations (…) are collapsing” due to some “stupid” leaders and an immigration policy with excessive “political correctness”.
“The peoples of Europe refuse to capitulate to wars of aggression as well as trade wars,” the French foreign minister said, indirectly referring to two points of friction between Europe and the US: US proposals to end the war in Ukraine, which are seen as too favorable to the Russian aggressor, and the Trump administration’s unilateral increase in tariffs.
Europeans want a Europe that is a powerhouse of democracy
“The peoples of Europe refuse to see Europe become a subservient and aging continent. They want Europe to become a democratic power that does not let anyone decide for it. So, the time has come, not to disappoint them”, said Foreign Minister Barro to the French parliamentarians.
The release of the US National Security Strategy has drawn criticism from many European countries.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday that some parts of the new US security strategy were “unacceptable” from a European perspective.
