Posted originally on the CTH on January 17, 2024 | Sundance 

Yes, indeed the sixty-year-long era of the extended Marshal Plan might actually come to an end if President Trump wins the 2024 election, and Europe can no longer benefit from one-way tariffs and generous USA subsidies. This stark reality is once again the concern for Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

Warning that President Trump’s outlook toward a self-sustaining Europe would mean a challenge to the norms of modern democracy, the rotating president of the Union is worried that tailored skinny pants and slim cut suits might soon be selling next to tractor boots and big fur hats.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union presidency on Tuesday warned that the foundations of democracy will be put to the test during the November U.S. election, envisaging a scenario where the longstanding trans-Atlantic alliance could unravel ever more.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said that “if 2024 brings us ‘America first’ again, it is really more than ever ‘Europe on its own.’”

De Croo spoke in an address to the EU legislature only hours after former President Donald Trump’s landslide win in the Republican Party’s Iowa caucuses.

His words harked back to the 2017-2021 Trump administration, when U.S. relations with Europe took a nosedive because of near-incessant trans-Atlantic quarrels about trade, security and military cooperation that eroded trust and cooperation.

De Croo said the 27-nation EU should quickly learn to stand more on its own and that in case of a Trump victory in November, “we should, as Europeans, not fear this perspective. We should embrace it.” (more)

Ya think?