London: The European Union has hit back at the Trump administration for predicting the “civilisational erasure” of the continent from social and economic change, highlighting a rift on security after disputes over Greenland and Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas dismissed the American claim and outlined plans for more partnerships to bolster defence, including a looming pact with Australia.
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilisational erasure,” Kallas told a major security summit in Munich.
“In fact, people still want to join our club.”
The remarks came one day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a reassuring message to the same summit about the need for the US and Europe to work together, but her comments confirmed a stark disagreement with the US on strategy.
US President Donald Trump complained in December that European leaders were too “weak”, and his administration’s national security strategy warned that European economies were not growing enough.
“This economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure,” the US strategy document said.
Rubio appeared to acknowledge that America faced some of the same threats as Europe, as he called for the two sides to co-operate on a “sane” foreign policy.
“It will restore a place in the world, and in so doing, it will rebuke and deter the forces of civilisational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike,” he said.
“So in a time of headlines heralding the end of the trans-Atlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish – because for us Americans, our home may be in the western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
Europe hits back at MAGA
Rubio’s remarks contrasted with a strong criticism of Europe from US Vice President JD Vance at the same summit one year ago.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a social and economic conservative, rejected the agenda pursued by Trump’s support base and declared on Friday: “The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe needed to become a stronger “geopolitical power” in its own right, and he and Merz aired plans to share a nuclear deterrent to counter rivals such as Russia.
Europe relies heavily on US weapon suppliers, and cannot replace the 85,000 US troops on European soil under the NATO pact. Germany, France and other European nations are struggling to recruit enough young people to reach their targets to expand their defence forces.
Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to continue talks about a ceasefire in Ukraine at meetings in Geneva on Tuesday, but there is growing frustration among EU leaders at the way they have been shut out of the talks.
“We are now paying for this war. The American outlay for the war last year was zero. We are buying American weapons to deliver to Ukraine,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said at the conference.
“There is no package in the US Congress, and there isn’t even the prospect of a package.
“If we are paying, if this is affecting our security, not just Ukraine’s, then we deserve a seat at the table.”
Kallas used her address to argue for a tougher line in the negotiations because of the risk that Russian President Vladimir Putin would gain concessions from the US that he could not gain on the battlefield.
“Russia is no superpower. After more than a decade of conflict, including four years of full-scale war in Ukraine, Russia has barely advanced beyond the 2014 lines. The cost? 1.2 million casualties,” she said.
“Today, Russia is broken, its economy in shreds, it is disconnected from the European energy markets and its own citizens are fleeing.
“In fact, the greatest threat Russia presents right now is that it gains more at the negotiation table than it has achieved on the battlefield.
“And on the topic of negotiations, what matters more than having a seat at the table is knowing what to ask when you are sitting there.
“And how I see it is simple: Russia’s maximalist demands cannot be met with a minimalist response.”
Rubio mentioned Ukraine once in his address to the summit, offering no notable support for its sovereignty, though he expressed hope for peace when asked in a question-and-answer session.
“What we can’t answer – but we’re going to continue to test – is whether there is an outcome that Ukraine can live with and that Russia will accept,” he said.
Also attending the Munich summit was one of Trump’s most acerbic Democrat critics, Californian Governor Gavin Newsom, who called on European leaders to stand up to the US president.
“I hope, if there’s nothing else I can communicate today: Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years,” Newsom said.
Kallas, who is a vice president of the European Commission and was previously the prime minister of Estonia, signalled that a defence agreement with Australia was imminent.
David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
