Europe must build its own foreign policy if it has any hope of staying relevant and preserving its values, leading American economist Jeffrey Sachs said in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.
Sachs is a former advisor to the United States, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations. Speaking at a European Parliament event titled 'The Geopolitics of Peace' on Wednesday, Sachs was critical of European dependence on American hegemony and the bloc's inability to formulate a cohesive, meaningful foreign policy of its own.
"Europe needs a foreign policy. A real one," he said. "Not a 'Yes, we will bargain with [US President] Trump and meet him halfway' policy. Please don't have American officials as head of Europe. Have European officials."
Jeffrey Sachs in 2018. Credit: Belga / James Arthur Gekiere
He added that the EU and NATO must distinguish themselves better on the global playing field. "With all respect to Brussels, move the NATO headquarters somewhere else. The EU and NATO are completely different things, and their confusion is deadly."
In his view, NATO is a tool of US expansion while the EU stands for climate and equality – two issues that have been disavowed by the American administration.
Trump is an 'arms salesman'
As for US President Donald Trump's calls for NATO members to up their military spending to 5% of GDP rather than the current required 2%, Sachs says this figure is "outlandish, ridiculous and absurd."
He called Trump an "arms salesman" and believes the spending hike only serves American interests. He urged the bloc to focus on "a unified European security structure" instead of NATO and invest in European arms production, spending between 2% and 3% of GDP given the "current circumstances".
The Belgian Army detachment in Cincu, Romania. Credit: Belga / Dirk Waem
Europe has lost its voice
Sachs outlined the US' expansionist foreign policy since the fall of the USSR in 1991, and a growing belief that it runs the world and does not need to consider alternative viewpoints when securing global dominance.
Europe has always adhered to the US doctrine, with the exception of individual countries' objections to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. "That was the last time Europe had a voice," according to Sachs.
Trump's Ukraine strategy – a determination to end the war via negotiating with Russia – indicates just how much US foreign policy is about to change. "That was the policy up until [Wednesday] morning. Now we don't know whether it will continue."
In addition, the transatlantic relationship has entered new territory. US Vice-President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference last Friday framed European democracies as the real enemy to be confronted.
Europe's opportunity
The EU has expressed disbelief at being sidelined by talks between Moscow and Washington to end the war in Ukraine (Kyiv was not invited either). The bloc's exclusion does not surprise Sachs given its waning influence in global politics.
He believes that Trump wants to end the war "because he does not want the losing hand", not out of any moral concern about bloodshed and violence. Nevertheless, "Ukraine will be saved by the current negotiations. So will Europe."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in October 2024. Credit: EU
Sachs is the author of the World Happiness Report. He noted that 18 of the 20 countries with the highest quality of life are EU Member States. "You need your own policy to protect that quality of life."
He advocates increased dialogue between warring countries and implores all states to "aim for a positive, shared vision under international law."
