The fact of the matter is, if the EU sidesteps the ACI and genuflects, Trump will feel encouraged to be even more disrespectful toward Europe than he already is; the EU will lose all credibility as a moderate but forceful player in a world of autocrats; and European citizens will be even more disillusioned with European institutions unwilling to protect them and their dignity. It could also make them more likely to seek protection from nationalist parties and governments \u2014 those that may well be against triggering the ACI in the first place, devout as they are to Trump\u2019s hostility toward the EU.<\/p>\n
Many in Europe are, indeed, adopting an attitude of subordinate acceptance when it comes to Trump\u2019s wishes, either because of ideological affinities or because they feel more comfortable being close to those in power \u2014 as political theorist Etienne de La Bo\u00e9tie stated in the 16th century, servitude is generally based on the \u201cvoluntary\u201d acceptance of domination.<\/p>\n
Then there are those who are ready to align with Trump invoking Realpolitik \u2014 a group that seems to have forgotten that 80 years of peace since World War II provide a clear reading of reality in which peace and prosperity are better safeguarded through cooperation than the use of force. History\u2019s judgement on that is clear.<\/p>\n
Finally, there are also EU leaders who, when siding with the U.S. over European interests, are driven by the intention of preserving the West\u2019s or NATO\u2019s unity. But while this may be a laudable intention, they\u2019re falling blind to the fact that, in the last year, most of the breaches of this unity have come from the American side.<\/p>\n
To be sure, much of Europe\u2019s reluctance to engage with Trump in a less subordinate manner has a lot to do with the continent\u2019s weakness in defense and security. The U.S. is right in asking Europe to bear a higher proportion of that burden, and Europe does need to step up its preparedness. But the readiness of many to accept virtually any demand, or coercion, because the U.S. may otherwise withdraw its security umbrella from Ukraine or EU countries is no longer convincing.<\/p>\n
Much is made of the NATO Treaty\u2019s Article 5 providing a collective security guarantee. However, the credibility of this guarantee relies on shared values and mutual respect. And with Trump constantly displaying his adversarial and contemptuous feelings toward Europe \u2014 seemingly more aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin \u2014 how much can the continent really count on the U.S. umbrella in case of Russian intervention? What price should the EU be ready to pay, in terms of foregone sovereignty, to hold onto a guarantee that may no longer exist?<\/p>\n
Moreover, a Europe less acquiescent to Trump\u2019s requests would be a strong signal to the many Americans who still believe in rule of law and the multilateral order. When Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to the U.S. in the 1830s to study the young democracy, he was impressed by the strength of its civil society and institutions \u2014 at the same time, he feared \u201cthe tyranny of the majority.\u201d And one might wonder whether a system where the winner of an election can govern with no respect for the country\u2019s institutions, violating the independence of its judicial system and central bank, is still a model of democracy.<\/p>\n
After World War II, the U.S. contributed generously to the relaunch of the European economy. It also massively influenced new democratic institutions in Germany and the nascent European Community. Maybe now it\u2019s Europe\u2019s turn to give something back and defend these values \u2014 and that means taking action. This is, after all, what the ACI was meant for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fact of the matter is, if the EU sidesteps the ACI and genuflects, Trump will feel encouraged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[1393,6215,473,31,32,34,2000,6562,299,5187,2194,3976,366,2348,1197,2821,809,7338,811,479,1201,6717,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-711215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-anti-coercion-instrument","9":"tag-cooperation","10":"tag-defense","11":"tag-democracy","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-emmanuel-macron","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-eu27","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-european","18":"tag-gaza","19":"tag-governance","20":"tag-greenland","21":"tag-history","22":"tag-investment","23":"tag-nato","24":"tag-negotiations","25":"tag-rule-of-law","26":"tag-security","27":"tag-tariffs","28":"tag-trade","29":"tag-transatlantic-relations","30":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115934169881136247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}