Trump must respect Europe's choices, says EU's Antonio Costa

European leaders have shied away from criticising Mr Trump for his attacks against the continent

European Council President Antonio Costa (R) and Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin have pushed back against criticism of Europe made by US President Donald Trump. AFP

Donald Trump should respect Europe's democratic choices, EU council president Antonio Costa said on Tuesday after the US president described the continent as "decaying" and "weak".

Mr Trump deepened his rift with Europe, criticising key allies over immigration and Ukraine.

European leaders have generally avoided criticising Mr Trump for his attacks against the continent, instead heaping praise in public for his attempts at brokering a Ukraine-Russian peace deal. Media leaks have shown their distrust behind closed doors.

"We respect the choice of Americans, and they need to respect the democratic choices of our citizens," Mr Costa said at a joint press conference in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin.

Both leaders pushed back against Mr Trump's claims made in an interview with news website Politico, in which he said that immigration policies on the continent were a "disaster" but that leaders were too "politically correct" to "send ’em back to where they came from".

"Most European nations, they're, they're decaying," he said.

Asked if European countries would not remain US allies if they failed to embrace his migration policies, Mr Trump replied that "it depends".

"I think they're weak, but they also want to be so politically correct," he said.

He listed countries including Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden that he said were being "destroyed" by migration, and launched a new attack on the "horrible, vicious, disgusting" Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor.

Mr Trump was speaking just days after his administration released a new national security strategy that lambasted Europe, a historic ally, and described it as facing "civilisational erasure".

Alleged censorship is another criticism often hurled at Europe by US officials, who resent the EU Commission recently fining social media platform X €120million for breach of transparency rules.

'Europe is strong'

Yet proof of Europe's strength lay in the fact that the US administration renegotiated trans-Atlantic trade relations this year over complaints that Europe exported more goods to the US than the other way around, Mr Martin said.

"It depends on how one defines strength, but Europe is on of the strongest continents in the world in terms of economic strength," Mr Martin said. "Europe is strong, not weak."

Giorgia Meloni, Italy's prime minister and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the Ukraine war in Rome on Dec. 9, 2025. Bloomberg

Europe is however adjusting to vulnerabilities brought by hybrid attacks conducted on its territory since Russia's 2022 attempted invasion of Ukraine, the Irish Prime Minister said.

Hybrid attacks include sabotage, cyber-attacks and unidentified drone fly-overs over sensitive locations, including airports.

"I'm confident Europe has the capacity, has the economic scale, to respond to those challenges," Mr Martin said.

'Get on the ball'

There is fear that Mr Trump will pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make large territorial concessions to Russia - a move that is viewed in Europe as a possible greenlight for Moscow to attack other European countries for territorial gain.

Moscow wants the entire Donbas region despite not occupying it fully.

Russia is "much bigger" and "much stronger", Mr Trump said in his Politico interview. He added that Mr Zelenskyy would "have to get on the ball and start... accepting things." He also reiterated calls for elections to be held in Ukraine, despite martial law prohibiting elections.

US President Donald Trump listens has described Europe as "decaying" and "weak." AP Photo

Speaking in Rome where he was visiting Pope Leo and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Mr Zelenskyy said he was "always ready for elections". He described his meeting with Ms Meloni, a strong Ukraine ally who also has good relations with Mr Trump, as "excellent".

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian president said he would share a revised peace plan with the US. Mr Zelenskyy has been holding meetings with European leaders in Paris, Brussels and London while his chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in Miami to meet US counterparts ahead of their talks with Mr Putin.

In Dublin, Mr Costa reiterated Europe's attachment to Ukraine being the sole decision-maker over its territories. "Territory is clearly a choice of Ukraine, and we must respect that," he said. European heads of state are also expected to deliver on a legal framework to make use of Russian frozen assets to support Ukraine financially at their next meeting in Brussels next week.

In the UK, Downing Street declined to say whether Keir Starmer agrees with Mr Trump's description of Europe as a group of "decaying" nations.

A No 10 spokesman said: "You've seen the strong relationship between the Prime Minister and the president."

The spokesman said the UK "welcomes the significant US efforts to bring about peace to Ukraine."