Copyright: © Mario Salerno
European states are split over how to respond to Donald Trump’s dramatic shift in United States policy over Ukraine.
The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and the Nato warmongers’ alliance met on Monday to discuss Trump’s bombshell announcement last week. He went over their heads to begin talks with Russia—and said the US would no longer guarantee European states’ security.
This is a major shake-up of the liberal capitalist order that the US built after the Second World War.
There are two main responses—one camp is desperate to appease Trump, another is talking tough about ‘going it alone’ without the US.
But they are all united in wanting to boost arms spending—and delusions about their own importance in the world.
The first camp includes British prime minister Keir Starmer, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania in eastern Europe. They have supported the West’s war drive in Ukraine, often straining at the leash for further escalation.
Ahead of the summit, Starmer said he is ‘willing and ready’ to put British ‘boots on the ground’ in Ukraine. He said British troops should be part of a ‘peace keeping’ operation after a deal is struck between the US and Russia.
It’s another sign of how Labour is desperate to cosy up to Trump to maintain Britain’s role as a junior partner to US imperialism. He said he wants Britain to act as ‘a bridge’ between the United States and Europe.
The Czech prime minister Petr Fiala—a right wing Tory, bigot and warmonger—said ‘Ukraine must agree’ to any deal between the US and Russia.
But the Czech Republic is highly dependent on exports and would take a hit if Trump launches a trade war against the EU. This means it wants to hug Trump more closely in the hope of influencing the White House.
The Polish government, led by the liberal warmonger Donald Tusk, is caught in a similar bind. He previously said that anyone who doesn’t support the war in Ukraine deserved ‘the darkest place in political hell’.
But Tusk is careful not to suggest that about Trump today. ‘There can be no place for ‘either/or’—the European Union or the United States,’ he warns instead.
Tusk ruled out sending Polish troops to be part of a peace-keeping operation in Ukraine. But he said, ‘We must show that we are capable of much greater investment in our defence capabilities.’
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has attacked Trump’s plan, saying, ‘There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured.’
But he also warned against “any solution” that leads to a ‘decoupling’ of the EU and US.
The other camp is led by French president Emmanuel Macron who described Trump’s move as an opportunity for Europe to ‘muscle up’. ‘This is Europe’s moment to accelerate and execute,’ he said.
‘What Trump is saying to Europe is that it is up to you to carry the burden. And I say, it is up to us to take it on.’
The divisions point to a deeper crisis facing Europe’s rulers.
The EU was born out of the crisis of European imperialism and the rise of US imperialism at the end of the Second World War.
The US emerged out of the war as the most powerful capitalist economy and sought to build a world order based on free markets and free trade.
US imperialism wanted to reconstruct European capitalism in order to forge a vast, single market that its firms could dominate. This push was reinforced as the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union ramped up in the late 1940s.
Economic integration was intertwined with the US providing a ‘security guarantee’ through the Nato warmongers’ alliance.
But today US imperialism faces major challenges to its dominance in the worldand Trump wants to pursue a more ‘go it alone’ strategy. He wants to focus on the US’s main threat—the rise of China.
And he sees ‘multilateral alliances’ such as Nato draining US resources, so he wants allies to pay their own way.
So Europe’s leaders are caught between pleading with Trump and pretending they can go their own way.
The EU is far too disunited and dysfunctional to become a world power, whatever Macron may hope.
Capitalist competition among its member states was always baked into European integration. That was highlighted by the start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014. It showed the limits—or lack—of EU military power and how divisions among member states hampered a united response.
And today France and Germany—the most important states in the EU—are mired by political and economic crises.
For the left, the choice isn’t between the US and EU. Our task is to exploit the divisions to fight our rulers—and their imperialist system that drives war.
Source: Socialist Worker
The views expressed belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy of StWC