Josep Borrell has slammed Ursula von der Leyen for selective policies and bias toward the US and Israel
The European Union is losing credibility because it is not pushing back against the US, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said. He criticized the bloc’s passive stance on the Iran war and a trade deal with Washington, according to Politico.
In comments to the outlet on Monday, Borrell accused EU leaders of weak and selective policies that let Washington act with impunity and damage Europe’s interests.
Borrell, who has long criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, has increasingly targeted the European Commission since leaving office. He said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has “continued to overstep her powers” in foreign policy, which the bloc’s founding treaties “clearly state” is not within her competence.
He also accused her of being “systematically biased in favor of the US and Israel,” adding that Europe is “suffering from the consequences” in terms of high energy prices, while US President Donald Trump openly “gloats” that the situation benefits the US “because they are oil exporters.”
Turning to the EU-US trade deal, Borrell said the bloc should not ratify the agreement struck by von der Leyen and Trump last summer. “The deal was unfair from the beginning,” he said. “They imposed 15% tariffs on us and we reduced ours on them.”
Relations between Washington and Brussels have been strained since Trump returned to office last year, with recurring disputes over trade, defense, digital regulation, and the Ukraine conflict. The new US National Security Strategy criticizes the EU as strategically unreliable and warns of “civilizational erasure.”
Borrell’s commentary comes amid a rift within the EU, as socialists in Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s party, a key part of von der Leyen’s European Parliament coalition, push back. Earlier this month, European Parliament critics said von der Leyen could face questioning from her own allies over her stance on the Middle East conflict, with some lawmakers asking whether she has abandoned the rules‑based international order.
Senior lawmakers last week slammed her remark that “Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order,” which was interpreted by some as an endorsement of Trump’s hardline approach.
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