The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, today rejected the claims of the administration of US President Donald Trump that Europe is in a terminal decline, assessing that the continent is a global leader of prosperity and freedom.
Kallas, speaking on the final day of the Munich Security Conference, said Europeans have excellent living standards that are the envy of people around the world, citing research showing that about 40 percent of Canadians would like to join the European Union.
She was reacting to Washington’s assessment, most clearly set out in the recent 33-page National Security Strategy, that Europe is at risk of “civilizational obliteration” due to migration, cultural and religious change and declining birth rates. The report said the continent could be unrecognizable within two decades.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that position yesterday in a speech at a conference of world leaders, military officials and policy makers.
Trump administration officials have also accused European governments of stifling dissent, particularly from the right.
– Contrary to what some claim, ‘woke’ decadent Europe is not facing the erasure of civilization – Kallas said in her opening address.
She later added that criticizing Europe has become fashionable in certain political circles, despite the EU’s success in “pushing humanity forward”.
Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, pointed out that her country is second on the Press Freedom Index of the Reporters Without Borders organization.
– It is interesting to listen to the criticism of media freedom coming from a country that is in 58th place on this list – said Kallas, speaking of the USA.
In the latest ranking, the USA actually took 57th place, reports DPA.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
