America and Europe are undergoing a “non-consensual divorce,” said former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, as US President Donald Trump advances talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine without Europeans on the table.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster Cadena Ser late Tuesday, Borrell attributed the split to the ideology of Trump’s administration.
“Because he doesn’t like Europe’s political and social model. For Trump, Europe is the anti-model, the same as a democratic Ukraine is for Putin,” he said.
Borrell added that US Vice President JD Vance showed a complete rejection of European values and institutions at the Munich Security Conference last week, despite “never having set foot in Europe before.” Vance said Europe faced a threat “from within” and that European governments were retreating from their values such as free speech and democracy and ignoring voting concerns over migration.
Now free from diplomatic constraints, Borrell criticized Washington for sidelining the EU and Ukraine in negotiations. He also denounced Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine repay military aid with its rare earth minerals, calling it “plundering.”
However, he also criticized Ukraine’s allies for their slow reaction to the war. “When it started, we were giving them helmets. Now, we’re giving them F-16 aircraft. I’m sure if we would have acted stronger and faster the situation would be different,” he said.
The former foreign policy chief called on Europe to boost defense spending in response to growing security threats.
BORRELL SLAMS TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN
Borrell also condemned Trump’s proposal to displace Gazans and transform the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” calling it “deplorable and scandalous.”
He said he feels “vicarious shame” that the response to “so much pain and suffering; so many deaths; tens of thousands of mutilated children; and so many hostages still left to release” is to “build resorts.”
Borrell noted that the idea was not entirely new.
During his tenure as EU foreign policy chief, he met Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who also framed the Palestinian issue in terms of real estate problem.
He said Israel Katz, now Israel’s defense minister, shared similar plans with the European Foreign Affairs Council.
“He came to explain his vision for Gaza, and to our surprise, he said he wanted to build artificial islands off the coast and develop the area’s tourism—while bombs several times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima were falling on Gaza,” he said.