EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Saturday sought to downplay tensions with the US after the Trump administration released a national security paper that sharply criticized European allies.
Kallas’s remarks come as many European leaders fear that the US government is increasingly turning its back on the continent, particularly with regard to support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian forces.
What did Kallas say?
“There’s a lot of criticism [in the paper], but I think some of it is also true; if you look at Europe, it has been underestimating its own power towards Russia,” Kallas said on a panel at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
“We should be more self-confident,” she said, adding that the “US is still our biggest ally.”
“I think we haven’t always seen eye to eye on different topics, but I think the overall principle is still there. We are the biggest allies and we should stick together,” Kallas said.
What did the US national security paper say?
The US National Security Strategy document, which was posted on the White House website overnight to Friday, echoes criticisms of Europe already presented in a blistering speech by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conferencein February.
The strategy also appeared to espouse the white supremacist Great Replacement conspiracy theory, according to which white European populations are being deliberately replaced by non-white peoples.
The paper said several countries risk becoming “majority non-European” and Europe faces “the real and stark prospect of civilisational erasure.” It added, “Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less.”
The strategy plan said Europe was faced by issues such as “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe,” it said.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
