Pompeo called the EU ‘bureaucratic’

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, before the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, called Brexit a wake-up call for the European Union, criticizing it indirectly with the assessment that "the interests of the citizens are put behind the interests of the bureaucrats."

Pompeo said there was a lack of leadership in the world and that US President Donald Trump was ready to take on that role, that is, to return the United States to the "traditional central role in the world".

In order to justify this, Pompeo listed examples of the non-functioning of the current world order, starting from Russia occupying sovereign states, Iran launching ballistic missiles, that China does not abide by international trade agreements, the fact that there are peacekeeping missions for decades and still there is no peace, and there are still terrorists and dictators. Pompeo did not say clearly how the United States will take over this leadership role, so the details are likely to follow at the ministerial meeting.

The expectations here in NATO were that Pompeo would ask the allies to support the United States with the intention of abandoning an agreement with Russia on arms control involving medium-range missiles, which, according to the allegations of the alliance, has not been respected for years by Moscow and is developing a new weapon that can reach every city in Europe. According to NATO information, European allies still consider the deal to play a positive role, while the United States are receiving messages that it is outdated and should be abandoned. It is possible for the United States to announce a self-initiated withdrawal from the agreement, if it does not receive support from the rest in the alliance.

Slobodanka Jovanovska

Nezavisen Vesnik’s correspondent from Brussels