EU reveals weak hand as Trump raids Venezuela and threatens Greenland

"On Sunday morning, a little more than 24 hours after US bombers, fighter jets and helicopters attacked Caracas and special forces seized Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, the European Commission posted on social media. The EU's executive said nothing about an operation that multiple national leaders outside Europe, opposition politicians inside it and pretty much every available legal expert had denounced as a gross violation of international law."

"Instead, it wished Europeans a safe return from their holidays and pointed out that if they could travel across borders with only their ID cards and were guaranteed refunds or compensation in the event of bus, train or plane delays, it was thanks to the EU. This stuff free movement, consumer protection, holiday entitlements the EU can do. Condemning a powerful, longtime ally and standing up for liberal democracy, multilateralism and the rules-based international order? Not quite so much."

"The EU is in a deep, deep bind over Donald Trump's smash-and-grab raid on Venezuela just as it is over his repeated assertions that the US absolutely needs to take control of Greenland, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. If Europe acquiesces in US actions against the Maduro regime, it risks weakening the legal principles that underpin its opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law, neatly summing up the dilemma."

US bombers, fighter jets and helicopters attacked Caracas and special forces seized Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. The European Commission posted a social-media message celebrating free movement and consumer protections while saying nothing about the operation denounced as a gross violation of international law. EU leaders face a dilemma: condemning US action risks alienating a primary security guarantor and straining transatlantic unity; acquiescing risks weakening legal principles underpinning opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Leaders want to preserve collective defence and not derail US-backed postwar security guarantees for Kyiv. European officials also seek to avoid antagonising President Trump.

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