Costa, ‘stop US interference, we will not bow to techno-oligarchs’
Brussels (ANSA) – Europe responds to the offensive from the US by Donald Trump. In his speech at the Jacques Delors Institute, the president of the European Council Antonio Costa called the interference by the United States unacceptable and expressed concern about Moscow’s alignment with the new American national security strategy.
“The US – he said – cannot replace Europe in the vision we have of freedom of expression. Our history tells us that there is no freedom of expression without freedom of information, which requires pluralism. There is no freedom of expression if freedom of information is sacrificed to defend the US techno-oligarchs.”
“We cannot accept interference from the US, an ally respects the partner’s domestic politics,” he added. Shortly afterwards the Commission also wanted to respond to the barbs from Elon Musk – the latest being his branding of the EU as “the Fourth Reich” – resorting to sarcasm. “Even crazy statements are part of freedom of expression,” emphasized spokesperson Paula Pinho.
This is not just a matter of rhetorical skirmishes. On the Ukrainian front, the US and the EU continue to have different visions. Moscow, an interested spectator, now misses no opportunity to reiterate its closeness to the negotiation plan devised by Trump. “Biden’s team has completely managed Brussels, pushing the EU down the wrong path. Now, suddenly the EU bureaucrats ‘don’t want interference from the US’ under Daddy Trump. It’s time to listen to Daddy and save Europe,” wrote Kirill Dmitriev, one of the Kremlin’s main negotiators on the Ukrainian front, on X.
The clash between the EU and the US has one of its focal points in the Big Tech issue. The fine imposed on X, although only 120 million, has sparked Musk’s anger, who is betting everything on internal divisions, both among the 27 and within the Commission, over the stance to take on digital rules. The fine “is aimed at the entire corporate structure, it has nothing to do with Elon Musk himself,” clarified the Commission, refuting one of the claims of the Tesla boss (December 8).
