Fears that US President Donald Trump’s policies pose an existential threat to Europe are set to overshadow EU leaders’ talks on multiple crises at a summit in Malta this week.
Curbing migration from Libya and dealing with the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the EU were meant to be the dominant themes of tomorrow’s summit in Valletta.
However, at their first meeting since the new US president took office, the national leaders will now also discuss the need for unity amid worries about Trump’s commitment to the decades-old Transatlantic Alliance.
In an extraordinary sign of concern, EU President Donald Tusk on Tuesday ranked Trump along with Russia, China, Islamic extremism and domestic populism as the biggest “threats” to the bloc in its 60-year history.
From his controversial ban on migration from seven mainly Muslim countries, to backing a break-up of the EU and dismissing NATO as obsolete, Trump is barely able to open his mouth without ringing alarm bells in Europe.
“Worrying declarations by the new American administration ... make our future highly unpredictable,” Tusk wrote in a letter to EU leaders.
“This is a new way of governing — is each tweet a political act, or just the expression of a particular mood?” one EU diplomat said.
The letter sets out Tusk’s thoughts in relation to a debate on the “future of the EU” that 27 EU leaders will have in Malta.
Luxembourger Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, whose country is one of the EU’s founding members, also confirmed that “transatlantic relations,” including Trump’s migration ban, would be on the agenda.
“I have spoken to several of my European partners and we share the same position: we do not approve of any order that also concerns Europeans with dual nationality,” he said.
However, one question facing EU leaders will be how strongly they can condemn Trump’s migration policies, when they are themselves discussing how to put up their own barriers.
The EU slashed refugee numbers coming through Greece through a controversial deal with Turkey, and the Malta summit will discuss how to stop those making the dangerous crossing from north Africa, especially from Libya.
EU leaders are expected to issue a declaration with steps including increasing support for the Libyan Coast Guard and pushing on with refugee deals with other African countries.
Summit host Malta’s calls for a Turkey-style deal with Libya are unlikely to bear fruit, since the chaos following the 2011 fall of then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi makes it hard for the EU to know who to even deal with there.
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