MUNICH — A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.

Kallas alluded to criticism in the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”

“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.

Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”

“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”

In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”

He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”

“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.

Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.

“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.

Former President Barack Obama has responded to the racist video posted by President Donald Trump’s social media account earlier this month.

During an interview with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama said many Americans “find this behavior deeply troubling.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office,” Obama said in the interview, which was posted on YouTube Saturday.

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama added, describing much of the noise around Trump’s presidency as a “distraction”.

Obama’s response follows outrage over the video, which depicted Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip, saying “please stop the fake outrage.” Trump refused to apologize for the social media post, telling reporters “I didn’t make a mistake” aboard Air Force One.

The video, which was posted at the beginning of Black History Month, has since been deleted. The White House blamed a staffer for “erroneously” posting the video clip.

Obama also shared his thoughts on the immigration crackdown and protests in Minnesota and elsewhere around the country, telling Cohen they have left a good number of American people saying “we’re going to live up to those values that we say we believe in.”

“It is important for us to recognize the unprecedented nature of what ICE was doing in Minneapolis, St. Paul, the way that federal agents, ICE agents were being deployed, without any clear guidelines, training, pulling people out of their homes, using five-year-olds to try to bait their parents, all the stuff that we saw, teargassing crowds simply who were standing there, not breaking any laws,” the 44th president said.

Obama called the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month “a heartbreaking tragedy” and said it was “a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”

He also said that the Trump administration has given explanations for the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman killed by an immigration agent, “that aren’t informed by any serious investigation.”