No Mrs May, we don't want your bridge to Trump

No Mrs May, we don't want your bridge to Trump

Mrs May stands next to Dalia Grybauskaite in the 'family' photo of EU leaders at the summit in Malta

Theresa May arrived in Malta on a mission.

She was going take on the growing European uneasiness with Donald Trump, with an ambitious new strategy.

That strategy was to act as a bridge between Washington and Brussels, an honest broker between a Brexit-supporting President and a threatened European Union.

:: May told to choose: Europe or US

Image: Theresa May arrived with overtures on NATO...

It was with Mr Trump's NATO commitment that she went armed. Last week in Washington the Prime Minister appeared to get the President to commit to NATO "100%", after he previously questioned its purpose.


What better sign of the UK, twisting the arm of the new US President to the benefit of Europe, particularly its eastern European flank?

However, not all of Britain's missions in mainland Europe go well.

Within minutes of arriving the French President appeared to cast doubt on that commitment, saying: "Who knows what President Trump wants on NATO?"

We don't need UK bridge to Trump: we have Twitter

And then a stinging rebuke from Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite: "I don't think there is a necessity for a bridge.. we communicate with the Americans on Twitter."

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Mr Trump has been very critical of the EU and even predicted its demise in the wake of the historic Brexit vote.

Donald Tusk, the EU Council President, said this week that Mr Trump posed as big a threat to the European Union as an assertive China, aggressive Russia or Middle East stability.

This while other Europeans express their disquiet at our Prime Minister's cosying up to the man in the Oval Office.

Gianni Pittella accuses Trump of using the UK to break up the EU

One leading EU Parliamentarian said on Tuesday that the US President was using the UK as a Trojan horse to destroy the EU.

And so here we are. Mrs May's bridge appears to have collapsed before it has even been built.

Europe appears not to want Brexit Britain's help to deal with Brexit-supporting Trump.