EU recovers from shock Trump interview

BELGRADE - Politicians across Europe have been reacting to a wide-ranging Donald Trump interview, hitting back at the US president-elect's "astonishing" statements on EU policies, NATO and the Iran nuclear deal.

In his interview with UK newspaper the Times and Germany's Bild, published Monday, Trump said plenty of things Europe may not have wanted to hear, calling the Iranian deal "catastrophic," labeling NATO as "obsolete," applauding Brexit, and reiterating his intension to mend relations with Russia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that Trump's position on NATO and the EU had "been known for a while."

"My positions are also known," Merkel said, promising to "continue to work to ensure that the 27 [post-Brexit] member states work together effectively and, above all, in a forward-looking way."

"We Europeans have our destiny in our own hands," the...