The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said ‘the free world needs a new leader’ and that it was up to Europeans to take this challenge

The EU foreign policy chief has declared that “the free world needs a new leader”, as European leaders threw their support behind Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the stunning White House confrontation between him and Donald Trump.

Leaders from across Europe expressed their solidarity with the Ukrainian leader after the fractious exchange with JD Vance, the US vice-president, and Trump, who claimed he was not “ready for peace” and accused him of “gambling with world war three”.

Although in general the European leaders did not name the US president, their comments late on Friday laid bare the gaping rift between the US and its traditional allies in Europe over the war in Ukraine.

In a social media post Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, wrote: “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine. We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor.

“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
      12·
      16 hours ago

      But they are talking about the free world, the whole free world.

      And just to be clear “free world” is not a synonym for the USA, it means democratic countries in general.

      By saying “the free world needs a new leader”, what they mean is, the US can’t be in charge any more, because they aren’t part of the free world right now. So that’s the situation, they’re going to have to step up and focus on more than just Europe.

      • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
        32·
        10 hours ago

        Why do the Democratic countries of the world need a “leader?” Why is it necessary for one of the democratic countries to “be in charge” of the others? The relationship between the democratic countries of the world - and all countries of the world - should be one of mutual respect and equality. There shouldn’t be a power hierarchy among countries, democratic or otherwise.

        • slickgoat@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 hour ago

          We really don’t need such a leader, and in practice don’t have one at all. Usually it is a collision of mutual interests, at best.

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
            1·
            5 hours ago

            Any nation that wishes to seek the “leadership” of the EU is free to do so, but nations should also be free to choose autonomy, independence, and self guidance.