EU official warns US against interfering in Europe's affairs

A top European Union official on Monday warned the United States against interfering in Europe's affairs and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.

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European Council President António Costa's remarks came in reaction to the Trump administration's new national security strategy, which was published on Friday and paints European allies as weak, while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.

The document, which was praised by Russia, formalises in writing months of Trump administration criticism of EU policy and perceived restrictions on free speech that started with a lecture to European allies in Germany in February by US Vice President JD Vance.

It's “good” that the strategy depicts European countries as an ally, but “allies don’t threaten to interfere in the domestic political choices of their allies,” Costa said.

“What we can't accept is the threat of interference in European political life. The United States cannot replace European citizens in choosing what the good or the bad parties are,” he said in Paris at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank.

Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive at the European Policy Centre think tank, said that stridently nationalist parties in Europe will be emboldened by the strategy document and “will intensify efforts to hollow out the EU from within.”