US National Security Strategy Aims To Encourage Rise of Far-right Parties in Europe and UK

WASHINGTON Dec 09: A newly released U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) has delivered a seismic jolt to Brussels, accusing Europe of political, economic, and cultural decline while energizing the continent’s populist Right.

In a dramatic departure from post–World War II policy, the NSS explicitly endorses the revival of European nationalism and encourages the rise of far-right parties. It goes further by calling for direct U.S. intervention to oppose Europe’s current political trajectory. This could include redirecting State Department funds to nationalist groups, encouraging U.S. tech companies to resist European regulations and amplify far-right content, and even mobilizing U.S. intelligence tools to influence European politics.

If implemented, the strategy would amount to deliberate interference in the domestic politics of America’s closest allies, threatening to destabilize Europe’s political order and potentially triggering a major transatlantic rupture.

Signed by President Donald Trump, the strategy warns that Europe risks “civilizational erasure” due to decades of mismanagement, citing mass migration, restrictions on speech, and the continent’s governing institutions. The sweeping document crystallizes an unprecedented rift between Washington and the EU—longstanding allies since World War II.

The release coincided with a furious reaction from Elon Musk, who demanded the EU be “abolished” after his platform X was fined €120 million for violations of EU digital rules. Moscow, meanwhile, praised the NSS as aligning with its worldview—an endorsement that further inflamed EU leaders already dismayed by Washington’s stance.

German lawmaker Norbert Röttgen said the United States was “no longer standing by the Europeans,” warning that if the strategy were implemented, “the EU would no longer exist.” European Council President António Costa condemned the document’s call for U.S. involvement in European politics, insisting that allies do not interfere in each other’s democratic processes.

Populist leaders, however, celebrated the report. Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders hailed Trump’s assessment as accurate, claiming Europe faced cultural transformation due to open borders. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán likewise praised Washington’s approach while criticizing the EU’s support for Ukraine.

The NSS’s most contentious elements include its refusal to label Russia a U.S. security threat and its assertion that the EU has obstructed American efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The strategy calls for a rapid end to the conflict to “reestablish stability” with Moscow and to relieve pressure on Europe’s economies.

European centrists reacted with fury. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said the report positioned itself “to the right of the extreme right,” while German officials stressed that freedom of expression and the structure of liberal democracy in Europe were not matters for U.S. intervention.

The document encourages a revival of “Western identity” and endorses the growing influence of Europe’s nationalist parties. It warns that continued migration could leave some NATO countries “majority non-European,” questioning whether they would still share strategic alignment with Washington.

The NSS also strongly criticizes the EU’s digital regulations. After Brussels fined X under the Digital Services Act—which requires online platforms to combat illegal and harmful content—U.S. officials accused the EU of censoring Americans and unfairly targeting American tech firms. Musk and several U.S. lawmakers denounced the penalties as an attack on free speech.

EU regulators insist X violated transparency rules, advertising standards, and obligations to provide researchers access to public data. Additional investigations into X and TikTok remain ongoing.

Trump’s broader critique mirrors past warnings that Europe is being reshaped by uncontrolled immigration. Vice President JD Vance similarly told an audience in Munich that Europe’s greatest threats came “from within,” not from Russia or China.

European leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, urged Washington to remember that Europe has been America’s closest ally for eight decades. But the NSS makes clear that the U.S. intends to scale back its traditional role, declaring that “the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.”

While supporters see the strategy as a logical extension of Trump’s “America First” doctrine, officials across Europe fear it could destabilize the EU internally—and upend the transatlantic alliance that has underpinned the West for generations.