It's now official! The publication of the US Security Strategy on 5 December confirms what was already apparent: the President of the United States considers Europe to be in decline and intends to reverse its policies by promoting nationalist opposition in the Member States.
For him, the current European Union is the enemy of American interests if it clings to universal values and wishes to attain its autonomy.
While claiming the slogan ‘America first’ as the sole aim of its foreign policy, this document, riddled with contradictions and approximations, with a Stalinist tone (Trump's name is mentioned nearly thirty times), intends to subject the world to a mercantilist vision. It has been officially welcomed by Moscow, presumably because it is the antithesis of democracy, which it intends to combat.
‘Illiberalism’ is indeed an ideology to which the extremist movements of Europe adhere, but whose father is in the White House and whose profiteer of the moment is in the Kremlin.
The lure of money to the point of corruption unites them. For them, international relations boil down to trade and profits, and governance to the kleptocracy of the few.
They despise the law, the rules, and therefore Europe, which is its most advanced form. They dislike facts and truth, developing an alternative reality and propaganda worthy of totalitarian regimes.
They believe in brute force, power struggles and the fait accompli. They are convinced that only dialogue between ‘big States’ can organise international relations and that it is normal that Others should pay tribute to them.
Expansionists, imperialism comes naturally to them and unites them in a revisionist nationalism. They claim the right to expand and dominate.
It is a very real ideology. It is not a passing posture. It is a full-scale attack on democracy, which is seen as ineffective, inappropriate, iniquitous and elitist.
Combating it is now a duty and a matter of urgency for Europe. It is a vital necessity within Europe and an imperative outside Europe for the fate of the world.
