US strategy document says Europe risks 'civilisational erasure'
By Reuters
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BERLIN, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Europe faces "civilisational erasure" and must change course if it is to remain a reliable ally for the United States, according to a U.S. National Security Strategy posted on the White House website.
The document was the latest in a series of statements by U.S. officials and policymakers that have upended postwar assumptions about Europe's relationship with its strongest ally, the United States.
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"Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory," the document said, adding that it wanted to "work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness".
The National Security Strategy is a document released periodically by the executive branch that outlines a president's vision for the nation, including priorities, threats and strategies to deal with those.
It included a foreword signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said it was "a roadmap to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history".
ECHOES VANCE SPEECH THAT CAUSED ALARM
Some of the language in the document recalled a speech by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Munich in February, which caused shock across European capitals. Vance said he worried most about a "threat from within" Europe and what he said was a retreat from values shared with the United States.
The strategy document said the United States remained "sentimentally attached" to European countries including Britain and Ireland and said the "character of these countries is also strategically important".
As well as pointing to Europe's sluggish economies, it accused the European Union of undermining political liberty and sovereignty, censoring free speech, suppressing political opposition and pursuing migration policies that were "transforming the continent".
If present trends continued, Europe would be "unrecognisable" in 20 years or less and it was "far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies," it said.
The document said it was "more than plausible" that within a few decades some NATO members would become "majority non-European" and it was "an open question" whether they would see the alliance in the same way.
The European Commission declined to comment on the document. One European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The tone on Europe is not promising. Even worse than Vance's speech in Munich in February."
European politicians and officials have bridled at the tone from Washington but as they hurry to rebuild their neglected militaries to meet a perceived threat from Russia, they still rely heavily on U.S. military support.
The document said it was in the United States' strategic interest to negotiate a quick resolution in Ukraine and to re-establish "strategic stability" with Russia.
It said the Trump administration was at odds with European officials who held "unrealistic expectations" for the war in Ukraine, and said many trampled on basic principles of democracy to suppress domestic opposition.
"A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments' subversion of democratic processes," it said.
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