Top EU official voices 'shock' at Minneapolis violence / Photo: Nicolas TUCAT - AFP
Top EU official voices 'shock' at Minneapolis violence
Top EU official Teresa Ribera on Friday described her "shock" at the "terrifying" images of violence in Minneapolis where two American citizens were shot dead by federal agents enforcing an immigration crackdown.
"I don't want that for my country or my continent," the European Commission vice president said in an interview with AFP in her 12th floor office in Brussels.
"For me, it was terrible -- the shock of seeing how Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and small children, women, and men are treated with such senseless violence, especially because it's anonymous," she added, naming the Americans killed.
Minneapolis has been gripped by weeks of protests against the roundup of undocumented migrants by masked and heavily armed federal agents.
Both 37-year-old Americans had been demonstrating against the sweeps when they were shot dead by officers.
Ribera's comments contrasted with the extremely cautious line of the European Commission, which has declined to condemn the killings and called the violence in Minneapolis an "internal" US matter.
"This happened in a country founded on an ideal of freedom, the protection of rights, and respect for individuals," the commissioner said.
She added she was counting on the Congress and the courts, on "American society's ability to react" and on "the federal administration" to restore "normality".
Ribera has often been a rare dissenting voice in the European Commission's top team led by president Ursula von der Leyen and last year condemned Israel's war in Gaza as a "genocide" against Palestinians, in the strongest public remarks by an EU official.
Since Pretti's death, she has made a string of posts to her Bluesky account, endorsing Barack Obama's warning his killing was a "wake-up call" and sharing Bruce Springsteen's song written in response.
- 'Unjustified threats' -
Relations between the European Union and the United States, its ally and top trading partner, have entered a tumultuous period since Donald Trump returned to the White House a year ago.
But Trump's vow to seize Greenland from EU and NATO member Denmark cast the transatlantic alliance into its deepest crisis in years -- before the US leader backed off his threat last week.
Ribera acknowledged the transformation of the transatlantic relationship.
"We received this very harsh and very threatening message" on Greenland, Ribera said, which showed "how important it is to react in a clear and united way".
While the immediate danger has been averted -- and Trump's tariff threats on European countries rescinded -- Ribera called on Europe to remain united.
Greenland "was also a clear incentive to take note of how clear and united we need to be on issues that can be considered unjustified threats," she said.
Ribera is also the EU's most senior antitrust official, and despite US threats of retaliation, she has insisted Brussels will not be swayed from acting against American Big Tech where necessary.
She criticised the "attacks" by the US administration against Europeans involved in tech regulation, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who was among five people the US State Department said it would deny visas to.
"We've all experienced things we didn't expect," she said of the United States.
In the face of the changes, Europe "must hold on to our core principles", she said, including the "ability to be firm when necessary".
Ch.Anglin--IP
