EU leaders seek ‘clarity’, ‘rational assessment’ of Trump administration

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00:00For more on the story, I'm joined in the studio by our Chief Foreign Affairs Editor, Rob Parsons.

00:05Rob, first of all, what are these leaders and Emmanuel Macron trying to achieve here

00:11with this emergency meeting? Well, a number of things all at once,

00:14but I think first and foremost, it's clarity. They want clarity about what is going on at the moment,

00:21in particular inside the Trump administration. They want a rational assessment of the statements

00:28that are being made, because if you look at the statements that are being made by Donald Trump,

00:33by J.D. Vance, by Marco Rubio, et cetera, et cetera, Hegseth, you know, there are differences

00:40between all the statements. So trying to make rhyme and reason of this, I think, is the first

00:45most important thing they can do at the moment, because what seems to be happening is that the

00:49European leaders, the European media is getting into a sort of spin, almost a panic, about what

00:56are the messages coming from the United States, because the messages themselves seem to be

01:01contradictory. And they'll be wanting to look at what's going to be happening this week in

01:05Saudi Arabia. What is this meeting that's taking place between the Americans? Marco Rubio is going

01:11to be there. Michael Valtz, the national security adviser, is going to be there from the Russian

01:18side, leading representatives, including Lavrov, the foreign minister. Is it a tragedy that

01:24Europe is not going to be at this meeting? Is it really a negotiation that's taking place

01:29this week in Saudi Arabia? Or is it simply an attempt to get together with the Russians,

01:34to get a sense of whether or not they're prepared to give anything? In which case,

01:39is there a need for everybody to be there at that particular meeting? So a number of things,

01:44as I said, I think that they're trying to assess, trying to prevent panic. At the moment, it's

01:50consternation, it's chaos, it's confusion. So it's important, I think, for them to get together,

01:56to try and assess for themselves what on earth is happening. Does it matter that they're not there

02:02in Saudi Arabia this week? Is it not more important that they establish a joint position

02:07for the future and to make sure that when the important moments come, they'll be represented

02:12at them? Well, you talked about making sense of the message that is being sent from the United

02:17States to the Europeans. What sort of message, if any, are these European leaders trying to send

02:24to Washington, maybe to the Russians? Yeah, it's very complicated, I think, for the

02:29Europeans, not least because, as is always the case with the Europeans, they're trying to find

02:36one voice when the reality is that there are many. How do you get 27 countries to come together

02:42and agree on anything, let alone something as important as adopting a position on the

02:48negotiations with Ukraine towards Donald Trump, towards Russia or whatever? So I think the first

02:56thing they're going to try and do is to see where there are grounds for unity and where there are

03:00grounds for action. And the most important area, since Donald Trump has been putting the focus on

03:06this in the last few days, is security in Europe and who takes ultimate responsibility for it.

03:12If it's going to be Europe, is Europe prepared to spend the sort of money that Donald Trump appears

03:17to be talking about? Are they prepared in Europe to go beyond the 2% of GDP on defence spending?

03:25The Poles are absolutely categorical about it. They already spend 4.7% of their GDP on defence.

03:32Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, said today, look, if we fail to spend now, today,

03:39a couple of years down the road, we'll be spending 10 times what we're spending today.

03:43So we have to act together today. So I think this is probably the most important debate that's going

03:48to be going on. Although there is disagreement already. The Spanish Foreign Minister said that

03:53they will not be talking about this today. But it's quite clear, listening to others,

03:57including the French, the British, Kirstarma, the British Prime Minister, saying that Britain

04:01is prepared to send troops if there is a ceasefire. It is prepared to send troops as part of a security

04:08arrangement to Ukraine. This is clearly going to be one of the things they're going to be

04:12discussing today, whatever the Spaniards think about it. This is something they want to send

04:17a message to Donald Trump on. They want to send a message to that they are prepared to act,

04:23that they really will do something like this. I think they sense, too, that they've got a moment

04:28here, and not much more than a moment. Because of the confusion in the US administration,

04:33got Kirstarma going next week to Washington. This is a chance to say, look, this is the way we think

04:40you should be going on this, you know, not the way that Hegseth says you go, more the way that Marco

04:45Rubio has been talking about it, for instance. This is just a chance, a sliver of an opportunity.

04:51But at the same time as that, you mentioned Russia in your introduction. Clearly, there's a

04:56message here to Russia as well. If there's a ceasefire deal, and Russia breaks it, European

05:01troops will be on the ground in Ukraine. So they'll be breaking a ceasefire agreement, not just

05:06with Ukrainians, but the Europeans as well, and will have to bear the consequences. And a message

05:11to Ukraine as well. You're not alone in this. We're sticking with you. Whatever the confusion

05:17and the noise that you see and hear around you at the moment in the world.

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