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The American administration has released a new security policy strategy document. And since it is the world’s dominant superpower that is at stake, the document also contains several considerations regarding Europe and the EU.
Many politicians and opinion leaders in Europe have been appalled by the strong criticism directed at the European Union in the document. “The European Union and other transnational bodies […] undermine political liberty and sovereignty” in European countries, the document states, among other things.
The criticism is that supranationalism weakens the sovereignty of the member states. The free formation of opinions is also hampered by censorship and political correctness. But it is also about the fact that European countries – especially in Western Europe – have allowed too much immigration. According to the authors of the document, the almost uncontrolled mass immigration has destabilized Europe, destroyed labor markets and made European countries more vulnerable to influence from foreign powers.
In Europe, leading politicians have so far been restrained in their reactions. The French newspaper Le Monde notes that European leadership has been keeping a low profile so as not to reinforce the division between Europe and the United States. On Monday, December 8, the British, French and German leaders were in London to discuss the latest diplomatic developments surrounding the Ukraine war, but also the new strategy document from the United States. They chose not to comment on the new American doctrine.
However, journalists and opinion leaders have not been as moderate. Radio France geopolitical commentator, Pierre Haski, believes in a column published on December 8 that the United States is now allying itself with the European far right and that the new strategy means that the United States is now breaking its normal and well-functioning relations with Europe.
In Sweden, the editorial writer Peter Wennblad wrote in the liberal-conservative daily Svenska Dagbladet that Europe now must fight on two fronts. We must deal with an aggressive Russia, but we also now must deal with an unfriendly USA.
Many critics in Europe link the content of the document to the current situation in Ukraine. They believe that the Trump administration is weakening its support for Ukraine, Europe and the free world when it suggests that Europe should have brokered peace in Ukraine a long time ago. They also believe that the American administration now in power in Washington is blinded by a certain degree of sympathy for Russia.
And it is true that Russia is no longer presented as a threat to the USA in the new security policy doctrine. The document talks much more about China than about Russia. And the basic attitude of the USA seems to be that the USA should now focus on its own interests and thus direct its attention towards the “Western Hemisphere”, that is, North and South America and the oceans across to Asia. The Europeans themselves must deal with their differences with Russia.
It is obvious that the current view of the United States on Russia and Western Europe’s conflict with Russia is ambivalent. On the one hand, they like to downplay the threat from Russia. Trump chooses to talk to Putin and seems to believe that Putin is interested in creating peace, which the Europeans are trying to make Trump understand that Putin is not.
At the same time, it is obvious that the Americans are urging the Europeans to cultivate their own strength. “We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence,” the document says. And they are urging the Europeans to invest even more money in their own defense. So in a sense, the current American administration is urging the Europeans to become big and strong again so that they don’t have to be so afraid of Russia.
The criticism of the EU is clearer. The EU is described only as a supranational organization that hinders democracy and hampers the economy. Here it is understandable that many European leaders react.
We can all have different opinions about whether Trump is right or wrong. Moreover, he may be right on some points but wrong on others. But there is no doubt that Trump has once again angered many Europeans and that his presidency poses real tests for European leadership.