The European Political Community meeting in Yerevan displayed a shared posture toward Washington, but exposed Europe's inability to fill the security gaps left by a retreating United States, French daily Le Figaro wrote on Tuesday.
The newspaper described the forum as "a platform aimed at promoting Europe as an alternative power to the giants: the U.S. and China". Commenting on Canada's inclusion, Sébastien Maillard, an expert at the Paris-based Delors Institute, said the format, "initially dictated by geography, is now also taking on an anti-Trump appearance".
Trump, "unnamed but omnipresent", loomed over the gathering, Le Figaro noted. The summit came shortly after Trump announced the withdrawal of at least 5,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany — compounded by his administration's cancellation of a planned Tomahawk missile deployment there.
"This is another crack in NATO's deterrence policy toward Russia, which Europe is not yet able to fill", the newspaper warned.
Despite tactical ideas on the table — including a coalition of the willing and an initiative to secure the Strait of Hormuz — European countries "once again failed to make progress on concrete matters", Le Figaro concluded, pointing to an underlying "strategic vacuum".
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Source: PAP