European Council President António Costa said the European Union must draw consequences from the United States’ new national security.
“We need to focus on building a Europe that must understand that the relationships between allies and the post-World War II alliances have changed,” Costa said at an event in Paris.
Costa strongly criticised allegations that free speech is being censored in Europe and the approval of the “growing influence of patriotic European parties,” as the U.S. strategy states.
“What we cannot accept is this threat of interference in Europe’s political life.
“The United States cannot replace European citizens in deciding which are the right parties and the wrong parties,” Costa said.
“The United States cannot replace Europe in its vision of freedom of speech,” he said, adding, “our history has taught us that there is no freedom of speech without freedom of information.”
Costa criticised the influence of some U.S. tech companies, saying “there will be no freedom of speech if citizens’ freedom of information is sacrificed to defend the tech oligarchs of the United States.”
Costa, who is in charge of forging compromises between EU leaders and is also responsible for the bloc’s relations with international leaders, urged Europeans to continue stepping up rearmament efforts.
“The United States remains an important ally.
“The United States is an important economic partner. But our Europe must be sovereign in this respect.
“This also has consequences from the point of view of our security and from a military point of view.”
Costa said that Europe should be able to replace the U.S. in the leadership of NATO in the near future.
The U.S.’ security strategy would also show that Washington’s interest in ending Russia’s war in Ukraine was not just a lasting peace but an end to hostilities to re-establish ties with Moscow.
Costa warned that many European leaders had thought they had good ties with Russia until the war taught them otherwise.
“I believe no one can ignore the fact that we cannot have a stable relationship with Russia, as Russia remains a threat to our security.” (dpa/NAN)
