ATHENS, Greece �� President Barack Obama delivered a staunch defense of the European Union and NATO as doubts persist about the commitment of his successor Donald Trump to maintaining the ties between the U.S. and its closest allies.
"The EU and NATO are extraordinary forces for peace and stability," Obama said in an interview with Greece's Kathimerini newspaper before visits next week to Athens and Berlin. "Europe is our largest economic partner and we have a profound economic interest in a Europe that is stable and growing."
Trump's victory got a chilly reaction from some European leaders, after he derided in his campaign a free trade agreement that Obama's administration has been negotiating with the EU, and called NATO an "obsolete" alliance for which the U.S. pays "far too much." German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said NATO allies are "irritated" with the president-elect's NATO comments, while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker mocked Trump Friday for having allegedly called Belgium a village.
"We need to do is to teach to the president-elect what Europe consists of, and based on what principles Europe functions," Juncker said.
In his interview with Kathimerini, Obama praised European integration as "one of the greatest political and economic achievements of modern times, with benefits for EU members, the United States and the entire world." But soothing defense may do little to quell concerns in Europe in the absence of more clarity from Trump about his plans for foreign policy and trade.
EU foreign ministers will meet Sunday in Brussels to discuss ties with the U.S. with Trump as president. A joint session of foreign and defense ministers from the EU is scheduled for Monday, a day before Obama begins his visits to Greece and Germany.
����
(Eleni Chrepa and Jones Hayden contributed to this report.)
