Vice President JD Vance He handed over a dose of harsh love for Europe in his first major interview with a European port since he took office.
In the interview with UNHERD, published on Tuesday, Vance expressed their deep admiration for Europe, its culture and its citizens as it warns simultaneously that its leaders fail in its citizens.
He repeated the Trump administration’s calls to European countries to increase their defensive spending and bear a greater responsibility for their security, rather than continuing to rely on American military support.
Newsweek She contacted the European Commission to comment on its website.
Jim Watson – Swimming pool/Gety EM.
Why do it matter
Since he took office, Vans maintained a critical tone towards Europe, in line with the president Donald Trump. It adopts a more friendly position in the last interview – which comes amid negotiations between the United States European Union On mutual commercial tariffs – it extends to a slight exit from his previous speech.
What do you know
“I love Europe,” Vans said in the interview, just months later Skepticism about the state of democracy on the continent.
“I love the European people. I have repeatedly said that I believe that you cannot separate American culture from European culture. We are to a large product of philosophies and theology, and of course the migration patterns that came out of Europe that launched the United States.”
However, Vans repeat Trump’s invitations NATO Members to increase defense spending to 5 percent of their GDP – from the target of 2 percent specified in 2014.
“It is not good that Europe be to be the permanent security of the United States,” the director told the director.
The Vice President also expressed regret for the state of armies in Europe today compared to a quarter of a century ago, when he said, “Europe had many vibrant armies, at least the armies that could defend their homelands.”
Today, he argued, saying: “The truth is – it is explicit to say that, but this is also true – that the entire security infrastructure in Europe, throughout my life, was supported by the United States of America.”
He said that most European countries “do not have armies that can provide their reasonable defense.”
Vans, however, referred to many extremist values. “The British are a clear exception, and the French are a clear exception, and the Polish is a clear exception. But in some ways, they are the exceptions that prove the rule, that European leaders were suffering from a lack of security, and this should change.”
What people say
The previous response to the Trump administration’s calls to increase defense spending in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said In March, the European Union must “prepare for what comes after that.”
“Over the past three years, the Russians spend 10 percent of the GDP of defense,” Macron told the French newspaper. Lu Figaro. “We need to prepare for what comes after that, with a purpose of 3 percent to 3.5 percent of GDP.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Lin told journalists Last month, it is time to renounce Europe urgently. “
“It is important to intensify the defense investment for a long period of time. It is for the security of the European Union,” she said.
What happens after that?
European Commission, Executive arm of European UnionHe suggested liberalizing about 800 billion euros (867 billion dollars) of financing for putting in additional defensive spending in an initiative called “preparedness 2030”.
