'Today, unfortunately, the US is our enemy,' says former EU commissioner

OVIEDO, Spain

The United States has shifted from being a key European ally to a hostile adversary, former European Union Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Spanish media in an interview posted Thursday.

“Europe once had an ally, but today, unfortunately, the US is our enemy,” said Almunia, a former vice president of the European Commission. “The US has gone from being pro-European to anti-EU – and that should worry not only Europeans, but Americans too.”

Speaking to Spain's Cadena Ser radio, he said the threat stems from US President Donald Trump, not the American people as a whole. Still, he warned, the shift poses a danger to liberal democracies worldwide.

“Trump considers the EU his main adversary and counts (Russian President) Vladimir Putin as a friend,” said Almunia. “When the strategic security document of the US openly supports far-right populist parties, which Trump calls ‘patriotic parties,’ that really worries me.”

Almunia praised Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa for criticizing Washington’s new National Security Strategy, which claims that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” due to migration and overregulation.

“Allies don’t threaten to interfere in each other’s democratic choices,” Costa said last month.

However, Almunia said he was “very worried” by the silence from other European leaders on the topic, including Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.

He also criticized the EU’s response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying it lacks coherence and urgency.

“If we witness fundamental human rights being violated, we must respond decisively,” he said. “As Europeans, we must react when such principles are broken – not look the other way or make excuses.”