The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, claimed to the Financial Times (FT) on Friday the administration of President Donald Trump “wants to divide Europe” and called upon unity among E.U. members to withstand what she described as the president’s “hostile tactics.”
“What I think is actually important for everybody to understand is that the U.S. has been very clear that they want to divide Europe. They don’t like the European Union,” Kallas told the FT, asserting that the United States’ approach to the bloc echoed tactics used by “our adversaries.”
President Trump and his administration have repeatedly expressed criticism of the European Union’s highly questionable policies. In November, the White House published its new National Security Strategy, in which President Trump warned that Europe faces imminent “civilizational erasure” due to the E.U.’s unrestricted mass migration policies that far eclipse the bloc’s economic woes, erosion of free speech, and other pressing issues.
“This is a very complicated relationship that we are having,” Kallas told the outlet. “If you read the national security strategy and national defense strategy, I think there shouldn’t be any illusions.”
Kallas detailed the E.U.’s 27 members were “at odds” as to how to handle the group’s relationship with the United States
“Our response should not be ‘Oh, let’s deal with [Trump] bilaterally,’ but ‘Let’s deal with them together,’” she said, and asserted, “They don’t like us being together because we are equal powers when we are together.”
Kallas acknowledged to the Financial Times that Trump’s “attitude” has bolstered arguments espoused by France and other E.U. nations who advocate for a less U.S.-reliant and more “autonomous” Europe, particularly when it comes to defense — but, according to the EU official, moving too fast on such a pursuit “could prove counter-productive.”
As such, she reportedly reasoned, there is “‘room for both’ appeasing Trump” and reducing the region’s dependence on the United States.
“We need to buy from America because we don’t have the assets or the possibilities or the capabilities that we need,” Kallas said. “At the same time we also need to invest in our own defense industry…not to put all the eggs in the same basket.”
Asked by FT for comment on the ongoing war in Iran, Kallas claimed that the conflict “has no clear ending in sight or predictable evolution.”
“I don’t think anybody knows, really,” Kallas reportedly answered. “It’s easy to start wars but it always gets out of hand, and it always brings more chaos.”
“I’m in daily contact with the Middle Eastern ministers and my counterparts and they don’t know. Because clearly, the goals that America have is one thing. Israel has maybe a bit different goals,” she continued. “But right now, for everybody in the region, as well as for us, it is important that we have a way out and stabilize the situation.”
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