A top European Union (EU) official warned that there is a growing feeling among Europeans that the U.S.-trans Atlantic relationship is “broken.”
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton pointed to recent tension over a new submarine partnership among the U.S., U.K. and Australia that effectively voided a previous contract between France and the Aussie nation.
“I planned this visit many weeks ago with a positive agenda, to deepen EU-U.S. cooperation,” Breton said during a live event Tuesday. “Something has changed. There is a growing feeling in Europe – and I say this with regret – that something is broken in our transatlantic relations.”
The new partnership announced last week and dubbed “AUKUS,” prompted France’s foreign affairs minister to condemn the move as a “stab in the back.”
And Breton – who was appointed to his EU post by French President Emmanuel Macron – said Tuesday, “It is probably time to maybe pause and reset our EU-U.S. relationship.”
