Activists have projected a golden facade and the words "TRUMP TOWER" onto the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, mimicking one of President Trump's skyscrapers, with a Greenpeace message urging EU leaders meeting today to stop capitulating to his demands. The Greenpeace Belgium activists are protesting the EU's continued dependence on the US for oil and gas imports, the removal of protections for the environment, public health and privacy, and the lack of resistance to the US's breaches of international law.
Greenpeace EU political campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo said: "Trump wants to dominate Europe, and so far most European politicians seem to let him have his way, so we're helping them redecorate. Trump flouts international law, and instead of resisting him EU leaders are ripping up protections for our health and environment, and hooking Europe to US oil and gas, to please him and his billionaire friends.
"When EU politicians say they want to 'simplify rules for competitiveness', what they mean is letting companies use more toxic chemicals in our clothes and food, or letting tech bros invade our privacy. Moving to 100% renewable energy and ecological agriculture would break our fossil fuel dependence, and Trump's stranglehold, while shielding people's bills from geopolitical turmoil. The EU must resist Trump's agenda of chaos and cruelty, and start defending ordinary people instead of corporations and the super rich."
The EU's 27 heads of government are meeting to discuss Europe's reaction to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the related increase in energy prices, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the next EU budget, as well as their own efforts to deregulate the EU's protections for the environment, public health and digital privacy.
The US government and its corporate lobbyists have been putting pressure on the EU to dismantle some of its environmental and social protections, such as the EU's anti-deforestation law, the methane regulation, and the digital tax.
EU leaders have mostly been hesitant to condemn, or been openly supportive of, President Trump's recent threats and attacks on Venezuela, Cuba and Iran, despite concerns that these breach international law. Greenpeace is calling for all governments to uphold international law and to protect civilians, and for the EU to push for an immediate end to military hostilities and blockades of humanitarian aid.
EU-US trade deal
As part of a proposed deal to lower tariffs on the trade of goods between the EU and US, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged that the EU would import $750 billion of US energy by the end of 2028, mostly oil and gas. By 2025, the US already provided 27% of EU gas imports, which could grow to 40% by 2030.
The European Parliament's trade committee is scheduled to vote on the deal's approval, which would then send it to the whole Parliament for a vote in its plenary session, possibly on 25-26 March. Greenpeace is warning that the EU's dependence on fossil fuel imports, as well as accelerating the climate crisis, gives leverage to authoritarian governments over the EU, and puts European households at risk of volatile prices. Greenpeace is calling on Members of the European Parliament to reject the EU-US trade deal.
