French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot in Paris on January 7, 2026. YOAN VALAT / AFP
The European political order "is today in danger," France's foreign minister said on Friday, January 8, sharply criticizing his country's long-time ally Washington and hitting back at US claims Europe faced "civilizational erasure." Jean-Noël Barrot delivered his annual address to France's ambassadors as European powers were racing to come up with a coordinated response to Washington's increasingly assertive posture on the world stage and Donald Trump's designs on Greenland.
"No, European civilisation will not fade away," Barrot said. "But yes, our political order is today in danger, despite its precious stability in an unpredictable world, despite its immense scientific, technological, cultural and financial wealth."
A US national security strategy released in December by Trump's administration launched a brutal attack on Europe, describing it as facing "civilizational erasure" from migration and calling for "cultivating resistance" among right-wing parties.
"No, Europe is not on the brink of civilizational erasure, and the presumptuous voices claiming it is would do better to watch out for their own erasure," the French minister said. But the European Union is, in his view, "threatened from the outside by adversaries who are trying to unravel the bonds of solidarity that unite us" and "from within by democratic fatigue."
