Europe's Moment Of Truth As U.S. VP VANCE Calls Them 'Free Loaders'

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post)

By Nitya Chakraborty

Europe, which has always been vocal about its past history and civilization as well its contribution to the making of the modern world, has never faced such humiliation in the hands of its transatlantic ally the USA in the last eighty years since the end of the Second World War in 1945 media leak on Tuesday of the confidential conversations between the high officials including the vice-president J D Vance revealed the extent of contempt the Trump 2.0 administration has for its NATO allies in Europe.

While most of the media in U.S. and Europe went on rampage against the Trump administration for its 'serious security breach' by using a commercial app for chat with the inclusion of a senior editor, the message that went from the chat sent tremors to the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emanuel Macron and the incoming German Chancellor Frederick Merz, who have been discussing the possibility of an alternative security system for Europe against Russia, since U.S., the main ally, is in a mood to withdraw, as per its policy under Trump 2.0

The Guardian in its editorial wrote:“It is jaw dropping that senior Trump administration figures would accidentally leak war plans to a journalist. But the fundamental issue is that 18 high-ranking individuals were happy discussing extremely sensitive material on a private messaging app, highlighting the administration's extraordinary amateurishness, recklessness and unaccountability.”

This chat reveals what the European allies of the U.S. already knew, including this administration's contempt for Europe, which the chat suggests will be expected to pay for the US attacks on Houthi rebels in Red Sea., Vance characterised the operation carried out to 'safeguard maritime trade and contain Iran' as“bailing Europe out again”. Defence Secretary Hegseth responded that he“fully shared his loathing of European free-loading”. The U.S. officials gave the impression that the European allies were suckers, taking away the hard-earned money of the U.S government for protecting them.

In fact, inside the Trump think tank, the debate has started about whether the U.S. should ask Germany to pay back a part of the amount which the ravaged economy of the country got from the U.S. for its reconstruction and economic revival. Both Trump and Elon Musk have been making fun of German economy by saying that the largest economy of Europe has been funded by U.S. money and its defence has been guaranteed by the USA. If this country does not pay heed to what U.S. is saying, the U.S. will see how to deal with it. The incoming president belonging to the CDU/CSU has been pilloried for marginalizing the far right party AFD, which is a supporter of Trump. This party emerged as the second biggest party in the recent general elections with 152 seats in the Bundestag, out of the total of 630 seats.

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In the last few weeks since the holding of the European security conference in Munich, the EU countries have been holding meetings on security for their continent and inciting Ukraine's President Zelensky to take a stronger position against Russia in the talks with U.S. for a temporary ceasefire. Zelensky showed some bravado at the meeting with the EU leaders, but at the end at the Riyadh talks, Ukraine agreed to the Trump formula on truce. Now U.S. announced on Tuesday that the Russian and Ukrainian sides have agreed on a limited truce on not attacking each other's energy establishments, as also in Black Sea, that is it's now a maritime truce. This will be further extended to a composite truce through meetings in the coming days. Europe has no role in this despite the French president and British Prime Minister talking earlier of a European Security Force in Ukraine.

The problem for Europe, especially France, Britain and Germany, is that they are accustomed to U.S. collaboration for the last eight decades and suddenly making alternative defence plan and implementing it on ground would not be that easy. Further, regarding European security, the main worry is that the European leaders feel that the U.S. security establishment cannot be trusted with intelligence sharing as before. They think that Tulsi Gabbard, the US Intel chief is a friend of President Putin and the Russians may get vital information about European security through her. Though the Americans officially rule out this insinuation, the British, French and German intelligence agency chiefs are not comfortable with Gabbard.

All these have placed the European countries in a peculiar situation. They want to deal with the U.S. president to maintain their self-respect and their European identity for which they are proud, but they are yet to figure out a viable path for achieving their strategy. The EU leaders are worried that President Putin will be emboldened to deal with Europe with stronger terms after his success in Ukraine with the help of Trump. Trump has assured that he would extract security guarantee for Europe after the Ukraine truce, but the EU leaders aren't buying into the American assurances. They feel that Trump is more interested in getting concessions from Putin on some of U.S.'s own issues. He is not so much keen in protecting Europe.

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There are reasons for this worry of EU leaders.350 million people of Europe have higher standard of living compared to Russia. Europe has a GDP of$ 16 trillion while Russia with now 140 million population has a GDP of only $ 2.2 trillion .The United States with its 340 million people have a GDP of $29 trillion. China with 1420 million people has a GDP of$ 18.5 trillion while India with nearly the same population has GDP of $ 4.3 million in 2025. The GDP figure of Europe compared to Russia is much higher. Then why is Europe so insecure about its security despite having nuclear facilities?

The EU has prepared a draft of an 800 billion euro defence plan by 2030 which will be in stages. The European Commission has warned that Russia will remain a fundamental threat to Europe's security in the coming period and the U.S. may not be of much help if Russia really attacks foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas explained the gravity of the situation by saying:“We don't have a cold war, but we have a hot war on European soil and the threat is existential. It is as real as it can get.”

But is it practical for the EU to organize such huge funds for their defence plan? Many experts have doubts. Some even point out that let the EU wait for some more time. Some others are saying Trump will be out after four years. As in 2028 November, new presidential elections will be there. Trump will be out after his two terms. Any other candidate elected after November 2028 elections whether Republican or Democrat may revise Trump policies. So why go for such huge funds mobilization now when the funds are needed for other areas of economy. But Germany has already approved its own defence spending plan, which the government says, will boost economy, which is presently facing recessionary trends. The European situation is thus fragile. Three main characters of the European theatre - French President Macron, Germany's president designate Merz and British PM Starmer-are in search of a saviour. (IPA Service )

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