The President of the European Council has pushed back on any attempt by the United States to meddle in Europe's politics, after the US published a new security strategy criticising the continent's policies on immigration and urging alignement with the far right.
Costa said that while it is normal that the US does not share the same vision on many issues, threats to interference in internal political life is unacceptable.
"The United States remains an important ally, the United States remains an important economic partner, but Europe must be sovereign.," he told a conference in Brussels on Monday.
"What we cannot accept is the threat to interfere in European politics."
US National security strategy
He was reacting to the new US National security strategy released last week that presents Europe as lacking in "self-confidence" and facing "civilizational erasure" due to immigration.
It said the administration of US President Donald Trump would be "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations” and sees growing influence of “patriotic European parties” as cause for “great optimism”.
"The United States cannot replace European citizens in choosing which parties are good and which are bad," said Costa, who as council president chairs summits of the bloc's 27 national leaders.
He said that there were long-standing differences with the Trump administration, but the new strategy "goes beyond that".
France's Macron to meet Ukraine, UK and German leaders to discuss US peace plan
Freedom of speech
Costa stressed the vision of freedom of speech is different in the EU and in the US.
"The United States cannot replace Europe in what's its vision is of freedom of expression,” he said.
"There would be no freedom of speech if citizens' freedom of information is sacrificed to defend the techno oligarchs in the United States."
Costa said it was a worrying sign that Russia had welcomed Washington's new outlook as "largely consistent" with its own vision.
He said that the approach to the war in Ukraine laid out in the strategy did not support seeking the "just and durable" peace as Europe has long advocated.
"This strategy continues to talk about Europe as an ally. That's fine, but if we are allies, we must act as allies," he said.
(with newswires)
