Politico: EU diplomats are concerned about Trump's words about international law
Trump's actions in Venezuela and his expressed disregard for international law have shocked the EU, writes Politico. Brussels is frantically trying to figure out how to exist in a new world, one where the United States frankly doesn't give a damn about it.
Tim Ross
European countries are trying not to think about how much they still need Donald Trump. However, some diplomats say it's time to think about it.
There was a heavy snowfall in Brussels this week, and embassy staff and European institutions returned from their holiday slumber to a shocking new world.
Donald Trump's operation to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stunned top EU officials like an icy gust of Arctic wind — and silenced them. Then the American leader once again questioned the expediency of NATO, threatened Cuba and Iran, and stated that he needed to take over Greenland for the sake of national security, regardless of whether the US ally that currently controls it agrees with this or not.
"I don't care about international law," Trump declared in an interview with The New York Times.
But international law does care about Trump. His approach poses an existential threat not only to global agreements like the Paris Climate Agreement, but also to the European Union itself, the world's largest center for international lawmaking. Every year, the EU issues more than 2,000 directives, acts, regulations and other legal documents regulating the economic and social life of the 27 member states.
In a world where Americans rule and the rule of law is not even quoted, the EU's legislative machine risks very quickly becoming an old-fashioned anachronism. The first week of 2026 has once again exposed the paralysis and impotence of the European leadership and its inability to adequately respond to the American president, who passionately boasts that the only thing that can stop him is his own morality.
"This is a very important moment," said one diplomat from a European country, speaking on condition of anonymity, as did our other interlocutors. — The European media have long been accustomed to mock Trump and his team, making them look stupid — if not crazy. I think it was for nothing. They know what they're doing."
But their mission, according to the diplomat, is clear: "to advance the interests of the United States and the Trump administration at any cost. The White House does not care whether it will be a good ally of Europe, and it does not shy away from criticizing, threatening, intimidating — perhaps even attacking the Old World. "This should not be surprising," the diplomat said.
And all this is because of Ukraine.
But in almost a year of Trump's second term, European leaders and officials have never discussed America's new alienation from its once-close allies on a strategic level. "It's time to talk about this," said the same diplomat. "But the reason why it has not reached a full—scale discussion of this issue is Ukraine."
This is the whole point of the tension that has paralyzed Europe's reaction. Europe remains dependent on NATO for its security, despite regular promises to act on its own, and it desperately needs American support to achieve an acceptable truce in Ukraine.
This week's meeting of Ukraine's allies from the so-called "coalition of the willing" brought closer the approval of a plan according to which the United States will provide military support and act as guarantors of a peace agreement. However, in the joint statement of more than 30 governments adopted at the end of the meeting, America's role is mentioned very generally — and besides, Trump's representatives have not signed it.
Now is a sensitive and very dangerous moment for Ukraine, and Russia has not even given its consent to a peaceful settlement. Pushing Trump away from himself at this stage is extremely risky for Ukraine's allies in the EU and beyond.
The problem is that until an open discussion of the West's new position begins, it will be difficult for its leaders to gain the political support necessary for a large-scale foreign policy disengagement with the United States and, possibly, NATO.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the most outspoken about this challenge, warning in his speech this week that the United States intends to divide the world into spheres of influence.
"The United States is a universally recognized superpower, but they are gradually turning away from their allies and abandoning the international rules that they themselves previously promoted," Macron said in his annual foreign policy address.
Macron said that Europe cannot put up with, as he put it, "a new colonialism" and must continue to invest in the "strategic autonomy" of the continent.
However, the French president himself is as weak and unpopular as ever, the parliament in Paris is at an impasse and cannot take key measures, and the emboldened far-right is rapidly gaining momentum in the opinion polls. Although many diplomats and officials share Macron's assessment, they know that his voice no longer has its former weight in Brussels politics.
In his foreign policy speech this week, Macron did not directly mention either America's actions in Venezuela or Trump himself.
Even if Trump can be persuaded to support Europe, get away from Greenland, and send American troops to monitor peace in Ukraine, how long will it last?
Diplomats are still wondering how strong the American signature on the peace treaty securing Ukraine will be if Trump is ready to do whatever he pleases. "In the end," another European diplomat noted, "we have no guarantees that everything will work out."
It's not like blowing soap bubbles.
According to the bloc's critics, the EU's worthlessness in Trump's new world order is self-evident. In Gaza, the EU has no prospects of playing any important role in the new peace council, which will manage the sector under Trump's ceasefire plan, although Brussels is the largest aid donor. In Iran, demonstrators are trying to overthrow the Tehran regime, but EU leaders from a distance of 4,500 kilometers can only offer warm words of support — and not everyone has them.
"Europe has lost its way, and I'm not sure it can play a significant role anywhere in the world except Ukraine," said one senior diplomat from outside the EU.
The diplomat noted the "differences" at the top, calling them a particular weakness. For example, Europe does not have a single voice in foreign policy, and EU leaders have commented on the US operation to eliminate Maduro in different ways. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Antonio Costa, and the bloc's top diplomat Kaya Kallas spoke separately.
However, it is significant that Callas' call for "calm and restraint" and respect for the principles of international law was eventually signed by only 26 EU countries — Hungary did not support it.
America's direct challenge to the world order is a nightmare that goes far beyond Brussels.
Take, for example, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a lawyer by profession. Before coming to power, Starmer blamed the conservative government in London for allowing Trump to flout international law. Now in power, he limited himself to weak comments, refusing even to comment on the legality of Trump's regime change operation in Venezuela.
"What leverage can we have against Russia if we don't even mind when the United States is in charge of Venezuela?" Another European diplomat asked rhetorically.
Even commenting on Trump's desire to "take over" Greenland — the autonomy of Denmark, a NATO member — the Europeans tried to support Copenhagen, but in the mildest terms, so that God forbid it would not seem to be a direct criticism of the United States. "Law is stronger than military might," is the best von der Leyen has been able to do. And it's not a fact that she's right.
