The election of Donald Trump as US president will act as a spur to Europe to co-operate more on defence, European leaders said on Sunday, as foreign ministers gathered for a special dinner in Brussels to discuss the implications of Trump’s stunning victory for European security, and the EU’s relations with Russia, Iran and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
In a symbolic display of independence from Europe, the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, was not attending the informal dinner, called at short notice, saying the meeting was not necessary. The foreign office said European leaders had been due to meet on Sunday anyway for a two-day general affairs
council.
The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, was not due to be there either because he had a commitment to meet the new UN secretary general, António Guterres, in Paris on Monday.
Johnson’s absence however is designed to send a signal that the UK wishes to distance itself from some of the fierce criticism of Trump in Europe. Johnson has urged his European colleagues to end their “collective winge-o-rama” about Trump’s election.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The foreign secretary will not attend the meeting convened for Sunday. There is a regular foreign affairs council meeting on Monday where a range of issues can be discussed in the normal way.
“We do not see the need for an additional meeting on Sunday because the US election timetable is long established. An act of democracy has taken place, there is a transition period and we will work with the current and future administrations to ensure the best outcomes for Britain.”
One UK source said it was “rude, arrogant and stupid to think the EU had to have a crisis meeting because of the outcome of a democratic election”.
The Foreign Office was instead underlining its determination to build close relations with Trump, a stance that has been unsettled by Trump choosing to meet the Ukip interim leader Nigel Farage on Saturday, making him the first UK politician to have a direct conversation with Trump since Tuesday’s election.
Ayrault appealed for calm on Sunday, saying: “Let’s stop talking about disarray, I do not understand why people are agitating. We must keep our cool.”
At the same, he conceded that Trump would act as a catalyst for renewed debate about a stronger EU defence force. He said Trump had indicated during his campaign he wanted the US to pull back from commitments abroad and cast doubt on US commitments to defend Nato members.
“Trump said he wanted Nato countries to pay more and I’m sure he’ll want to sort out who pays what, but he’s unlikely to want to leave the Nato alliance,” Ayrault said.
The ministers will also have to decide on a whole host of issues how far to bend to the new climate in Washington and how far to assert European independence.
The European commission’s president, Jean Claude Juncker, has struck a tough tone saying Trump’s election poses “the risk of upsetting intercontinental relations in their foundation and in their structure”. He added it would take two years to explain how Europe worked to an ignorant Trump.
0 comments:
Post a Comment