EU’s Juncker spots opportunity in US isolationism

“We will need to teach the president-elect what Europe is and how it works,” he told a student audience in Luxembourg. Intercontinental relations may be affected “in their foundation and in their structure”, he added.

While other EU leaders’ chose to downplay the American voters’ choice with more muted reactions, Juncker was blunt in his condemnation.

The Luxembourg newspaper Le Quotidien, quoted Juncker, a former prime minister of the tiny landlocked state, as saying: “In general the Americans pay no heed to Europe. As for Mr Trump, if I understand properly, he thinks Belgium is a village somewhere on our continent…

“My honest opinion? With Mr Trump, we are going to waste two years while he tours a world he doesn’t know.”

On Thursday Juncker said that his plans for an EU army had been given fresh impetus by Trump’s victory.

“The Americans, to whom we owe much … will not ensure the security of the Europeans in the long term. We have to do this ourselves,” he warned. “That is why we need a new start in the field of European defence, up to the goal of setting up a European army.”

During the election campaign, Trump caused alarm with NATO enthusiasts in calling for improved relations with Russia. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, woke up Wednesday facing a new reality.

The newly-elected president has openly questioned the value of the alliance, and called the organization “obsolete”. He suggested that America might not defend fellow NATO countries that didn’t help reimburse the US for the cost of its troops and bases in Europe.

This coming week, European Union foreign and defense ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss greater cooperation on defense and security, according to analysts. The agenda has been simmering on the back-burner, but Trump’s election has given it greater urgency.

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, will on Monday use a Brussels summit tell his European counterparts that they must abandon plans for an EU army and back NATO.

NATO has set a goal that nations should spend the equivalent of 2 percent of their GDP on defense, but most don’t. However, the idea that the US – the dominant military force in NATO — might not defend an ally, has frightened Britain.

A survey for The Independent by BMG Research found that 52 per cent thought Trump’s election would erode the strength of NATO.

“I think the shock and the amazement in Europe is about how much of a rupture president-elect Trump is compared to any other American politicians since 1947,” Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank in London, told the Independent.

The US last year funded 72 per cent of the alliance’s expenditure and is one of only five of the 28 members to meet the spending commitment. Britain also meets the target.

France and Germany, want to use Brexit as an opportunity to increase defence co-operation that has long been blocked by Britain.