In his first public commentary since being dismissed, Peter Mandelson ridiculed his region’s lackluster leadership
Former British Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson has offered a scathing critique of Western European leadership in the wake of a series of bold steps taken by the White House.
Writing for The Spectator on Thursday, Lord Mandelson contrasted US President Donald Trump’s move against Venezuela and threats regarding Greenland with attempts at diplomacy made by Western European capitals.
Mandelson warned that “Europe’s growing geopolitical impotence in the world is becoming the issue now, and histrionics about Greenland is confirming this brutal reality.”
This was the diplomat’s first major public comment since being fired last year over his close ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to Mandelson, Trump “has the means and the will,” while Europe’s political leaders don’t.
”In Caracas last weekend… Trump did more in a day than orthodox diplomacy was able to achieve in the past decade,” he wrote.
The US attack in Venezuela on January 3 resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his transfer to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
The formal EU statement on Venezuela called for “calm and restraint” and a “peaceful solution to the crisis.” A statement by seven European leaders on Greenland defended the autonomous territory as being part of the Kingdom of Denmark. The document, however, fell short of condemning Trump’s ambitions, instead calling Washington an “essential partner.”
According to the ex-ambassador, Western Europe has long relied on American might. He challenged leaders to determine “how and when the piggybacking stops” and implored them to assume full military and financial responsibilities “beyond fine words.”
The critique echoes Trump’s longstanding demand that European NATO members dramatically increase military spending, lest the US withdraw from the alliance entirely.
Mandelson was dismissed from his post last September after emails revealed he thought “the world” of Epstein and advised him to “fight for early release” following his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Mandelson previously called the financier his “best pal” in a 2003 birthday book.
