[ad_1]
The US president attributed the "immense progress" obtained, according to him, in the financial commitments of his allies.
It becomes a habit in multilateral forums. Donald Trump dictates the agenda with tweets and the partners of America minimize turbulence by highlighting the atmosphere "positive" exchanges. In the end, at the end of the suspense maintained by his statements blowing hot and cold, the American president claims the success of the meeting or designates the person responsible for his failure, as he did, before his election to the House. Blanche, in the reality TV show he animated
Allies who are positive
That's what happened, July 11 and 12, in Brussels at the NATO summit , crowned by an "extraordinary meeting" convened urgently on the issue of burden sharing. "We are very happy to have a very powerful NATO, very strong, much stronger than it was two days ago," Donald Trump declared, before disappearing to go to London, then Helsinki. " Trump provokes a crisis and then claims to have settled it, leaving behind a series of contradictions and misunderstandings ," commented former US negotiator Aaron David Miller.
READ At the top of the Nato, Donald Trump jostles his allies
Throughout the summit, allies have been positive, emphasizing the 25-page declaration, adopted by the 29 member countries, which denounces "the aggressive actions of Russia undermining the rules-based international order ", condemns its destabilizing action in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea, and adopts a series of measures to enhance responsiveness Alliance military. NATO " came out much stronger e" from its summit, insisted Emmanuel Macron
Trump takes pleasure in dividing his allies
These communication strategies do not erase the feeling uneasy at the spectacle of an American president taking pleasure in splitting his allies. "In the world of Trump, the concept of alliances no longer exists. Europeans are doomed if they think that the question now is how to save their alliance with the United States ", analyzes the political scientist Ivan Krastev, president of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. " The challenge for European leaders is to learn to live in a world where America has no allies, investing in an autonomous European defense capability rather than depending on the United States.
Easier said than done, given the fractures that are growing in the European Union. Brexit absorbs the attention of the United Kingdom, Germany seems paralyzed by the dissensions within its governmental coalition and countries like Hungary or Poland take different orientations. "Everything will be done in the capacity of the French and Germans to agree on the four floors of the rocket: budget, capacity, strategic and political", underlines François Heisbourg, special advisor to the Foundation for strategic research
A Europe still dependent
For obvious historical reasons, Germany is not ready for rapid change. The strategic autonomy of Europe is therefore not for tomorrow, despite the efforts of France, which signed with other eight countries at the end of June, the European initiative of intervention.
Europeans have not not really convinced the US administration that this initiative, coupled with other projects like the European Defense Fund, was part of "sharing the burden" it claims. And while welcoming "immense progress", made on the issue of military spending, Donald Trump did not fail to promote the American arms industry. Europe is not finished with dependence
François d'Alançon (in Brussels)
