AFP, BRUSSELS: Britain urged the EU Monday to treat Donald Trump’s election as an “opportunity”, exposing a rift with much of the rest Europe as it debated boosting the bloc’s military role amid fears of an isolationist America.
Trump caused shockwaves when he appeared to cast doubt on US commitments to NATO if Europe does not increase its own military spending, sparking calls for the EU to press ahead on its own.
Britain has long opposed any such plans as undermining NATO, but after its shock June Brexit vote and Trump’s election, member states led by France and Germany are backing a new plan to boost security cooperation within the EU.
The plan has been drawn up by EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini who said, as foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday, that “There is a need to strengthen our security profile, it’s what our citizens need.”
The news came as sources in Germany said the ruling coalition has backing Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a sharp Trump critic, as the country’s next president.
Steinmeier, 60, warned a day after Trump’s shock election that transatlantic relations would become “more difficult”.
For his part, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit supporter, urged his colleagues to wait and see what Trump wants, and to boost their NATO defence spending.
“Donald Trump, as I’ve said before, is a dealmaker and I think that could be a good thing for Britain but it can also be a good thing for Europe,” Johnson said as he arrived for the foreign ministers meeting.
Johnson had snubbed special talks on the issue hosted by Mogherini over dinner on Sunday, saying the meeting risked sending the wrong message to the new president.
“I think we all need to wait and see what they come up with, but I think we should regard it as a moment of opportunity,” he said.
Mogherini insisted after Sunday’s session that ministers backed a “very strong partnership” with Trump, but warned too that the EU could not just wait to see what he came up with.
She said that EU defence “is obviously one thing that was on the table before the US elections and has even more reasons to stay on our table today.”
The EU has no military arm but has mounted a series of combined civilian and military operations such as in central Africa or to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa.
Mogherini’s Global Strategy proposes that these operations be brought under a single headquarters based in Brussels—home also to NATO.
The EU foreign ministers are to discuss these proposals Monday, along with their defence minister colleagues.
EU diplomatic sources say Brexit and now Trump’s election have put defence firmly on the agenda, given that nuclear-armed Britain counts as the bloc’s most powerful military power and that the United States through NATO has guaranteed Europe’s security since 1949. They also say that if Britain up to now has been most opposed to a larger military role, other member states—of which 22 of the EU’s 28 also belong to NATO—have now come forward to express their reservations.
For example, Poland and the Baltic states want Trump to stick by commitments to increase NATO’s presence so as to deter a more aggressive Russia.
The election of Moscow-friendly presidents in Moldova and EU member Bulgaria at the weekend may have heightened those concerns.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said after the Sunday meeting that the EU had its problems—Brexit, Syria, migrants, Turkey, Russia—but none of them were with Trump or the United States.
Johnson said increased EU defence cooperation and spending was positive, but it should not come at NATO’s expense.
“You shouldn’t undermine the fundamental security architecture that’s looked after us for the last 70 years,” he said.