BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union presidency on Tuesday warned that the foundations of democracy will probably be put to the check throughout the November U.S. election, envisaging a state of affairs the place the longstanding trans-Atlantic alliance may unravel ever extra.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium, whose nation at the moment holds the rotating EU presidency, mentioned that “if 2024 brings us ‘America first’ again, it is really more than ever ‘Europe on its own.’”
De Croo spoke in an tackle to the EU legislature solely hours after former President Donald Trump’s landslide win within the Republican Party’s Iowa caucuses.
His phrases harked again to the 2017-2021 Trump administration, when U.S. relations with Europe took a nosedive due to near-incessant trans-Atlantic quarrels about commerce, safety and army cooperation that eroded belief and cooperation.
De Croo mentioned the 27-nation EU ought to shortly be taught to face extra by itself and that in case of a Trump victory in November, “we should, as Europeans, not fear this perspective. We should embrace it.”
Referring to the upcoming European Parliament elections in June, he mentioned this was “a year where our democracies and liberties will be put to the test.”
“Not only with election for this house, but equally for the U.S. Congress and the American presidency,” De Croo added.
