Germany says Theresa May is 'complicit' in Donald Trump's policies that put Europe's security at risk

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel attacks European leaders who fail to confront the US President over his climate science denial, as the Prime Minister remains conspicuously silent on whether America should stay in Paris Agreement

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World leaders who fail to “determinedly oppose” Donald Trump’s stance on climate change, religion and war are “complicit” in policies that will put Europe’s security at risk, Germany’s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has claimed.

In remarks which could be interpreted as an implicit attack on Theresa May – who has resolutely ignored a campaign calling on her to convince Mr Trump to keep the US within the Paris Agreement on climate change – Mr Gabriel made clear the growing political divide between the European Union and America.

In contrast Ms May has jokingly suggested she and the US President might be attracted to each other, talked about making the ‘special relationship’ between the US and UK stronger, and been accused of being Mr Trump’s “mole” in the EU.

Greenpeace has been raising a petition asking Ms May to use her influence to persuade Mr Trump to stay within the Paris Agreement, while WWF published a poll which found 84 per cent of people wanted the Prime Minister to intervene.

Mr Gabriel, who is also Germany’s foreign minister and previously served as environment minister, roundly condemned Mr Trump’s policies.

“Whoever accelerates climate change by not protecting the environment adequately, whoever sells more weapons into war zones, whoever does not choose to resort to politics to resolve religious conflicts is putting peace in Europe at risk,” he said, according to the German-language news website RP Online.

“The Trump administration wants to end climate deals, distribute more arms in crisis region and prevent people of some religions from traveling into [the US].

“If we Europeans don’t determinedly oppose this today, then the flows of migration into Europe will only become greater. Whoever does not oppose these US policies is making themselves complicit.”

Mr Trump has said he will announce whether the US will remain in the Paris Agreement this week.

Opinion is divided about whether it would be better for the world if the US stayed or left. Remaining a signatory in bad faith might give cover for others to backslide on commitments, while leaving might lead to more extreme policies in the US and trigger other departures.

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, made clear he believed it would be “important for the US not to leave the Paris Agreement”.

But if it did quite, it was still “very important for US society as a whole — the cities, the states, the companies, the businesses — to remain engaged”, he added.

And in a speech at the New York University he made an impassioned plea for the world to do more to prevent global warming from spiralling out of control.

While the Paris Agreement pledged signatories to try to restrict global warming to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible, the actual actions promised “still do not go nearly far enough to limit temperature rise”, Mr Guterres said.

“Commitments so far could still see temperatures rise by 3 degrees or more,” he said.

“So we must do our utmost to increase ambition and action until we can bend the emissions curve and slow down global warming.”

He pointed out that 80 per cent of the world’s energy still came from fossil fuels, which could not be phased out “overnight”.

But Mr Guterres stressed: “The journey from Paris is well underway. The support across all sectors of society is profound.

“The transition in the real economy is a fact. There will be bumps along the path ... but with everyone’s participation, the world can bring the Paris Agreement fully to life.”

With mentioning Mr Trump’s name – a theme in international climate discussions that has led to comparisons with the unnameable villain in the Harry Potter stories – he added: “The climate conversation should cease to be a shouting match. My door is open to all who wish to discuss the way forward, even those who might hold divergent perspectives.”

The Conservative Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report