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Report
EU leaders seek ‘clarity’, ‘rational assessment’ of Trump administration
FRANCE 24 English
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2/17/2025
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Transcript
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00:00
For more on the story, I'm joined in the studio by our Chief Foreign Affairs Editor, Rob Parsons.
00:05
Rob, first of all, what are these leaders and Emmanuel Macron trying to achieve here
00:11
with this emergency meeting? Well, a number of things all at once,
00:14
but I think first and foremost, it's clarity. They want clarity about what is going on at the moment,
00:21
in particular inside the Trump administration. They want a rational assessment of the statements
00:28
that are being made, because if you look at the statements that are being made by Donald Trump,
00:33
by J.D. Vance, by Marco Rubio, et cetera, et cetera, Hegseth, you know, there are differences
00:40
between all the statements. So trying to make rhyme and reason of this, I think, is the first
00:45
most important thing they can do at the moment, because what seems to be happening is that the
00:49
European leaders, the European media is getting into a sort of spin, almost a panic, about what
00:56
are the messages coming from the United States, because the messages themselves seem to be
01:01
contradictory. And they'll be wanting to look at what's going to be happening this week in
01:05
Saudi Arabia. What is this meeting that's taking place between the Americans? Marco Rubio is going
01:11
to be there. Michael Valtz, the national security adviser, is going to be there from the Russian
01:18
side, leading representatives, including Lavrov, the foreign minister. Is it a tragedy that
01:24
Europe is not going to be at this meeting? Is it really a negotiation that's taking place
01:29
this week in Saudi Arabia? Or is it simply an attempt to get together with the Russians,
01:34
to get a sense of whether or not they're prepared to give anything? In which case,
01:39
is there a need for everybody to be there at that particular meeting? So a number of things,
01:44
as I said, I think that they're trying to assess, trying to prevent panic. At the moment, it's
01:50
consternation, it's chaos, it's confusion. So it's important, I think, for them to get together,
01:56
to try and assess for themselves what on earth is happening. Does it matter that they're not there
02:02
in Saudi Arabia this week? Is it not more important that they establish a joint position
02:07
for the future and to make sure that when the important moments come, they'll be represented
02:12
at them? Well, you talked about making sense of the message that is being sent from the United
02:17
States to the Europeans. What sort of message, if any, are these European leaders trying to send
02:24
to Washington, maybe to the Russians? Yeah, it's very complicated, I think, for the
02:29
Europeans, not least because, as is always the case with the Europeans, they're trying to find
02:36
one voice when the reality is that there are many. How do you get 27 countries to come together
02:42
and agree on anything, let alone something as important as adopting a position on the
02:48
negotiations with Ukraine towards Donald Trump, towards Russia or whatever? So I think the first
02:56
thing they're going to try and do is to see where there are grounds for unity and where there are
03:00
grounds for action. And the most important area, since Donald Trump has been putting the focus on
03:06
this in the last few days, is security in Europe and who takes ultimate responsibility for it.
03:12
If it's going to be Europe, is Europe prepared to spend the sort of money that Donald Trump appears
03:17
to be talking about? Are they prepared in Europe to go beyond the 2% of GDP on defence spending?
03:25
The Poles are absolutely categorical about it. They already spend 4.7% of their GDP on defence.
03:32
Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, said today, look, if we fail to spend now, today,
03:39
a couple of years down the road, we'll be spending 10 times what we're spending today.
03:43
So we have to act together today. So I think this is probably the most important debate that's going
03:48
to be going on. Although there is disagreement already. The Spanish Foreign Minister said that
03:53
they will not be talking about this today. But it's quite clear, listening to others,
03:57
including the French, the British, Kirstarma, the British Prime Minister, saying that Britain
04:01
is prepared to send troops if there is a ceasefire. It is prepared to send troops as part of a security
04:08
arrangement to Ukraine. This is clearly going to be one of the things they're going to be
04:12
discussing today, whatever the Spaniards think about it. This is something they want to send
04:17
a message to Donald Trump on. They want to send a message to that they are prepared to act,
04:23
that they really will do something like this. I think they sense, too, that they've got a moment
04:28
here, and not much more than a moment. Because of the confusion in the US administration,
04:33
got Kirstarma going next week to Washington. This is a chance to say, look, this is the way we think
04:40
you should be going on this, you know, not the way that Hegseth says you go, more the way that Marco
04:45
Rubio has been talking about it, for instance. This is just a chance, a sliver of an opportunity.
04:51
But at the same time as that, you mentioned Russia in your introduction. Clearly, there's a
04:56
message here to Russia as well. If there's a ceasefire deal, and Russia breaks it, European
05:01
troops will be on the ground in Ukraine. So they'll be breaking a ceasefire agreement, not just
05:06
with Ukrainians, but the Europeans as well, and will have to bear the consequences. And a message
05:11
to Ukraine as well. You're not alone in this. We're sticking with you. Whatever the confusion
05:17
and the noise that you see and hear around you at the moment in the world.
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