LIVE Emergency summit in Brussels: EU leaders are looking for the answer to the “bully” Donald Trump / What Nicușor Dan said
EU summit. Photo credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
The leaders of the European Union states will rethink relations with the US at the informal emergency summit taking place on Thursday evening, in Brussels, after the threats of US President Donald Trump with the imposition of customs duties and even with military actions to obtain Greenland have seriously shaken confidence in the transatlantic relationship, several European diplomats said, according to the Reuters agency.
Kaja Kallas: Transatlantic relations have suffered a severe blow
Relations between the United States and the European Union have “suffered a severe blow” in the past week, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of an emergency meeting of European leaders.
“Disagreements between allies like Europe and America only benefit our adversaries, who are watching and enjoying the spectacle,” Kallas told reporters.
Arriving in Brussels, at this European Council, the Romanian president Nicușor Dan stated that the transatlantic relationship returned “to normal parameters”, after the discussions on the topic of Greenland.
Regarding the entry of the Peace Council, the head of state has not yet announced a firm decision, saying that further analysis needs to be done.
VIDEO Nicușor Dan, on the relationship between the EU and the United States: “We have returned to normal parameters”
Trump's changes of mind
In Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, Donald Trump changed his tone on Wednesday, announcing that he would not use force to annex Greenland, but insisted that he maintained his goal of the US buying this “piece of ice to protect the world” and called for “immediate negotiations”.
The EU countries, however, remain circumspect about a possible new change of heart on the part of the leader from the White House, seen as a “bully” (bully, who seeks to intimidate – no) whom Europe will have to stand up to. They are now focused on developing a longer-term plan for how to deal with the US under this administration and future ones.
“Trump has crossed the Rubicon. He may do it again. There is only a return to the way it was and leaders will discuss it,” an EU diplomat was quoted by Reuters as saying, adding that the EU bloc needs to give up its massive dependence on the US in many areas.
“We have to keep (Trump) close while working to become more independent from the US. It's a process, probably a long one,” he explained.
The United States is Europe's largest trading partner, making the EU vulnerable to Trump's policies to impose tariffs to reduce Washington's trade deficit and, as in the case of Greenland, to achieve other goals.
