BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 A top European Union official on Monday warned the United States against interfering in Europe\u2019s affairs and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.<\/p>\n
European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa\u2019s remarks came in reaction to the Trump administration\u2019s new national security strategy<\/a>, which was published on Friday and paints European allies as weak, while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.<\/p>\n The document, which was praised by Russia, formalizes in writing months of Trump administration criticism of EU policy and perceived restrictions on free speech that started with a lecture<\/a> to European allies in Germany in February by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d that the strategy depicts European countries as an ally, but \u201callies don\u2019t threaten to interfere in the domestic political choices of their allies,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we can\u2019t 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,\u201d he said in Paris at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank.<\/p>\n Lessons from history<\/p>\n 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 \u201cwill intensify efforts to hollow out the EU from within.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPro-European liberal forces need to finally wake up: Trump\u2019s America is not an ally, but an adversary to Europe\u2019s freedoms and fundamental values. His objective is to replace our democratic system with the illiberal populism now entrenched in the U.S.,\u201d Zuleeg said.<\/p>\n The strategy was also critical of European free speech<\/a> and migration policy. U.S. allies in Europe face the \u201cprospect of civilizational erasure,\u201d the document said, raising doubts about their long-term reliability as American partners.<\/p>\n But Costa, who chairs summits of the EU\u2019s 27 national leaders, said that Europe\u2019s \u201chistory has taught us that you can\u2019t have freedom of speech without freedom of information.\u201d<\/p>\n The former Portuguese prime minister also warned \u201cthere will never be free speech, if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Berlin, German government spokesperson Sebastian Hille underlined that \u201cEurope and the U.S. are historically, economically and culturally linked, and remain close partners.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut we reject the partly critical tones against the EU,\u201d he said. \u201cPolitical freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, belong to the fundamental values of the European Union. We view accusations regarding this more as ideology than strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia welcomes new vision<\/p>\n The security strategy is the administration\u2019s first since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in January. It breaks starkly from the course set by U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s Democratic administration<\/a>, which sought to reinvigorate Washington\u2019s alliances.<\/p>\n It comes as the U.S. seeks an end to Russia\u2019s nearly four-year war in Ukraine<\/a>, a goal that the national security strategy says is in Washington\u2019s vital interests.<\/p>\n But the text makes clear that the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah, and ending the war is a core U.S. interest to \u201creestablish strategic stability with Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n