The Japan Times - France has right to say 'no' to US, Paris says

In his annual address to France's ambassadors, Jean-Noel Barrot warned that the European Union was threatened by adversaries from the outside, and also hit back at US claims Europe faced "civilisational erasure".

European leaders are juggling multiple priorities as they try to come up with a plan to help end nearly four years of Russia's war against Ukraine and formulate a coordinated response to Washington's increasingly assertive foreign policy posture including Donald Trump's designs on Greenland.

Overnight, Russia hit western Ukraine, close to the border with EU and NATO member Poland, with its hypersonic Oreshnik missile after rejecting the latest post-war peacekeeping plan from Kyiv's European and US allies.

"In a matter of months, the new American administration decided -- and that is its right -- to rethink the ties that bind us," Barrot said.

"It is also our right to say 'no' to a historical ally, however historical it may be, when its proposal is not acceptable and when we must say 'no'."

The EU, he added, was "threatened from the outside by adversaries who are trying to unravel the bonds of solidarity that unite us" and "from within by democratic fatigue".

"Let's be clear: nothing guarantees today that we will still be living within the European Union as we know it in 10 years," he warned.

- No 'civilisational erasure' -

France's top diplomat spoke one day after President Emmanuel Macron warned that the United States was "gradually turning away" from some of its allies and "breaking free from international rules", offering some of his strongest criticism yet of Washington's policies under Trump.

"No, European civilisation will not fade away," Barrot said.

"But yes, our political order is today in danger, despite its precious stability in an unpredictable world, despite its immense scientific, technological, cultural and financial wealth."

A US national security strategy released in December by Trump's administration was brutally critical of Europe, describing it as facing "civilisational erasure" from migration and calling for "cultivating resistance" among right-wing parties.

"No, Europe is not on the brink of civilisational erasure, and the presumptuous voices claiming it is would do better to watch out for their own erasure," the French minister said.

Barrot also warned that the world was "facing the risk of nuclear proliferation" due to the erosion of the legal framework on arms control and the expiration of the New START treaty.

The New START treaty is the last bilateral nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia.

It expires on February 5.

Y.Watanabe--JT