The European Union faces dangers not only from the east but also from the west, and the bloc must learn to “fight back” against “Maga [make America great again] ideologists” in the United States, Irish politicians have been told.European Commissioner for enlargement Marta Kos said supporters of the movement, which emerged as part of US president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, claim the EU’s democracy, economies and civilisation are in decline.“We have to know how to fight back for our democracies … Today Europe is squeezed between east and west,” she told members of the Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs on Thursday. [ Oireachtas committee recommends opting out of ‘majority’ of EU migration and asylum pactOpens in new window ]She said the EU faces a situation “as never before”, where it has adversaries, such as autocratic regimes, who want to see the union fail. Russia’s aggression has reminded Europe that peace on the Continent can “never be taken for granted”, she said.She said she knows “values” are important in the Republic and will be a focus of the State’s presidency of the EU Council. Kos, a former Slovenian diplomat, is visiting for a series of engagements in advance of the Republic taking up the EU presidency for six months from July 1st.The commissioner is in charge of the EU’s accession negotiations to bring Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia into the union. Iceland could be considered for accession via a fast-track procedure if its citizens vote next August in favour of reopening negotiations with the bloc. She said it is “really good to see” that 69 per cent of Irish people support EU enlargement, while support in some countries is at less than 50 per cent. The last accession occurred in 2013 when Croatia joined. Asked if the EU’s framework for enlargement is capable of meeting objectives, she replied that some things could be done better, including alignment of values. Over the last few years, she said, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has not been following Article 4 of the EU Treaty, which calls for sincere co-operation. She said it has blocked steps on Ukraine’s path to membership and it has failed to follow the rule of law. Knowing this, Europe is now considering how to protect its values when preparing the accession treaty for Montenegro, and will insert more safeguards, she said. The potential safeguards, which could involve financial sanctions or removal of voting rights, would not be felt by new member states that follow rules but would “bite hard” if there are breaches, she said. “This is something new for the European Union. Until now, we have built on the trust that once we have new member states, they will all follow the rules. We now know that this is not the case, so [we have] to protect ourselves,” she said.