US remains biggest ally and Europe should be more self-confident, Kallas says

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that the United States remains Europe's biggest ally, after the Trump administration said in a major strategy document that Europe faces "civilisational erasure" and may one day lose its status as a reliable ally.

The new U.S. National Security Strategy, posted on the White House website overnight Thursday-to-Friday, denounced the European Union as anti-democratic and Europe as lacking in self-confidence, and said the goal of the U.S. should be "to help Europe correct its current trajectory".

"There's a lot of criticism, but I think some of it is also true, if you look at Europe, it has been underestimating its own power towards Russia," Kallas said on a panel at the Doha Forum in Qatar.

"We should be more self-confident," she said, adding that the "U.S. is still our biggest ally".

"I think we haven't always seen eye to eye on different topics, but I think the overall principle is still there. We are the biggest allies and we should stick together," Kallas said.