Ahead of the European Council on 18-19 December, the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have sent a clear message to the Heads of State and Government: the EU’s response to the new US Security Strategy must urgently focus on strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy.
During a plenary debate in Strasbourg, S&D leader Iratxe García called on EU leaders to assume their historical responsibility, agree to use the €210 billion in frozen Russian assets for a reparations loan to Ukraine, and condemn the EU’s silent complicity in the Trump administration’s constant attacks on European law.
Iratxe García, S&D leader, said.
“Tomorrow’s European Council has a historic responsibility. The European Union must use the €210 billion in frozen Russian assets for a reparations loan to Ukraine. It isnot only a matter of solidarity, but also of justice and security.
“Putin’s crimes cannot go unpunished. Nor can the massacres in Bucha, Kramatorsk and Mariupol. Nor can the suffering of more than seven million refugees, the abduction of 20,000 Ukrainian children, and the countless lives and homes destroyed.
“And in response to the new US Security Strategy, the EU leaders cannot sit idly by. Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy is not a misunderstanding or a whim: it is a declaration of hostility against the European Union. Silence is not the solution. If we defend freedom, it is the freedom to legislate and defend our rules.
“This is why the European project cannot be defended while making deals with Trump’s allies – as the EPP and its leader, Manfred Weber, are doing. When they ally themselves with extremists, they embrace Trump’s values.
“The only possible response to Trump and Putin is to defeat flattery with strategic autonomy. Autonomy in defence, urgently implementing the EDIP programme and the SAFE instrument. Energy autonomy, with an immediate proposal to ban Russian oil, as we have already agreed with gas. Trade autonomy, concluding the agreement with Mercosur without further delay. And technological autonomy, unapologetically defending our digital sovereignty and our laws, such as the Digital Services Act. Strategic autonomy will not be possible without a strong Multiannual Financial Framework. Because cuts only benefit the enemies of the European project.”
