Europe "is experiencing an internal process of disintegration following Brexit, and facing increasing instability in the outside world," Raffarin said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.
"The transatlantic link is breaking down. This should prompt us to review our geostrategic alliances, in the interests of our own security and peace," he noted, emphasizing that President Trump's policy was calling the US-European alliance into question.
"We face aggression against the Eurozone, an onslaught by the dollar; our companies are being forced to close their factories in Iran due to American pressure," the former prime minister complained.
Ultimately, Raffarin believes that "Europe's future is tied to the creation of a strong European pole in a stable Eurasia…This arc of stability should be based on a group of four countries comprising France, Germany, Russia and China," he said.
Europe's relationship with Washington has taken a turn for the worse in recent months after President Trump introduced steel and aluminum tariffs on EU producers and threatened to slap a 20% tariff on European cars unless the bloc removes trade barriers on "great [US] companies and workers." The EU vowed to retaliate. Last week, an EU official recalled the tension-filled atmosphere of the recent G7 summit in Quebec, where President Trump allegedly 'joked' with President Emmanuel Macron about "all the terrorists" living "in Paris."
