German Chancellor says Europe was free-riding on US | BBC News - video Dailymotion

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#Germany  #Russia  #BBCNews  German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page.    Russia's war with Ukraine has framed the early weeks of his chancellorship, as has US President Donald Trump's threat to impose 30% import tariffs on European Union exports from 1 August.    "We are seeing a big threat, and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine. It's on our peace, on our freedom, on the political order of Europe," Merz told the BBC in his first UK broadcast interview as chancellor.    Together, the UK, Germany and France are working on a triangular alliance of major European powers, dubbed the E3, which Merz says will focus not just on security and foreign policy but on economic growth as well.   Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog   For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news   #Germany #Russia #BBCNews

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00:00The German Chancellor has told the BBC that Russia is a threat to Europe that extends far

00:04beyond Ukraine. Friedrich Mertz warned that peace, freedom and the political order of Europe

00:09could all be affected by Moscow. Chancellor Mertz and the UK Prime Minister yesterday signed a

00:16treaty which they called historic and the first of its kind. He sat down with my colleague Nick

00:20Robinson from BBC Radio 4's Today programme to talk through what motivated Germany to sign this

00:25down. Your defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said to his own people, we must be ready for war by

00:342029. Be clear about that if you could. Does he mean that Germany, that Europe needs to be ready for

00:42a wider war beyond Ukraine? Well, we have to be able to defend ourselves, which is actually not the

00:51case. We are not strong enough. Our army is not strong enough. So that's the reason why we are

00:56spending a lot of money more than ever before after the Cold World War. So that we are spending a lot

01:04of money which we have to borrow. We changed our constitution and we are seeing a big threat

01:10and the threat is Russia. And this threat is not only on Ukraine, it's on our peace, on our freedom,

01:17on the political order of Europe. And that's the reason why we are doing that.

01:22To be clear, you think there's a wider and a longer term threat?

01:25It's a wider and a longer term, far beyond Ukraine. Yes.

01:29You said this US administration is largely indifferent to the fate of Europe. Is Donald Trump indifferent to

01:38the fate of Europe?

01:38Well, at least he is not as clear and as committed as former US presidents were, former US administrations

01:50were. And that's the reason why we are all looking for more independency from American defense.

01:58We know that we have to do more on our own. And we have been free riders in the past.

02:05And the Americans guaranteed our freedom and our security. And they are not willing, understandably,

02:11they are not willing to do that any longer. And they are asking us to do more. And we are doing more.

02:19So in a sense, he was right when he and his vice president, J.D. Vance, and the defense secretary

02:24were pretty rude, let's be honest, about Germany and Britain and others. They were right.

02:29They pushed you into a different position.

02:31They pushed us. And when we had our general elections, this was a week after the Munich

02:38security conference, when we saw J.D. Vance speaking to us in a very open manner, so to

02:46say. And we have to draw our consequences out of that. And we are doing that.

02:51But were you right too? Is he basically, in his core, Donald Trump, indifferent to the fate of Europe?

03:00Or as you've got to know him, have you changed your mind?

03:04No, I have not changed my mind. I'm observing that the Americans for years now, moving away from Europe

03:15and turning to Asia. This, so to say, how is it said, pivot to Asia is happening. And there are other

03:24places in the world the Americans are interested in. And they are seeing themselves in a very hard

03:31competition with China. And that's the reason why they are telling us, take care for your own.

03:37And we are doing it.

03:38Now, Keir Starmer says he wants your help now. And in the treaty that you're signing, there is some

03:43commitment to help. Because pretty much every boat and every engine that is used to transport

03:49migrants across the channel from France to the UK travels through or is held for some time in your

03:57country in Germany. But under the law, people smugglers cannot be prosecuted. How quickly will

04:03you change that?

04:03Well, this is part of our treaty. And we are decided on both sides of the channel to change

04:10that as soon as possible. And that's the reason why we are now laying that down in our agreement

04:15today. And we will do our homework immediately after. And then we will criminalise all these guys who are trying

04:23to bring refugees illegally to our countries.

04:27Changing law takes time. Are we talking years?

04:30Well, we will not need that much time. When we come back to Parliament in September, October,

04:36we will be willing to change that. And the treaty is the legal basis for that.

04:41German Chancellor speaking to my colleague, Nick Robinson. Well, we are waiting to hear the

04:49Chancellor of Germany speak at a press conference that has been called. And this is the members of

04:54the media gathering there to hold that news conference in London in about 15 minutes time.

05:00And we'll, sorry, I beg your pardon, it's Berlin. Let me get my cities right. Let's speak to our

05:04Berlin correspondent, Damien McGuinness. Geography kind of matters in these things, Damien, doesn't it?

05:10Tell us a little bit more about this sit down interview then that we were just hearing a little

05:15bit of, because it's very clear that the Chancellor understands the American position more clearly than

05:23ever. That's right. Yes. Now, what we saw was when he went to Washington, which I think we've heard in

05:30parts of this interview as well, there's a lot of nervousness here in Germany watching how he would

05:35fare with Donald Trump, whether he would have a rocky start and, you know, be insulted, as we've

05:42seen in the past with the meeting with President Zelensky. And so there was a lot of worry here

05:49about where the relationship would go, particularly because Germany's in a tricky position with the

05:53potential heavy tariffs that Donald Trump has threatened. In actual fact, Mr. Mertz appeared to

06:00establish a very good relationship. He's already communicated a lot with Donald Trump on the phone,

06:05done a lot of preparation, that was clear. And he managed to strike a balance between being

06:12relatively firm and very friendly. And I think that's partly because of the sort of personality

06:17he is in terms of, you know, being very happy, having these blokey chats with people. He's also a golf

06:23player and, you know, quite a tough businessman as well. So I think there's a certain bit of mutual

06:28respect. But yes, he's very clear about the situation in Washington. And he's been quite

06:34forthright, really, saying that actually you can't rely fully on the US anymore. And what we're seeing

06:40right now is he's backing that up with actions, namely money, massive spending on defence by using

06:48government debt, by changing the law in order to take on huge amounts of debts, in order to fund

06:53this defence spending. Quite controversial here, but he's pushing it through. So I think we are

06:57seeing a change, not only in rhetoric, but also in the real concrete situation when it comes to defence

07:03here in Germany. Damien, thank you very much. Damien McGuinness in Berlin.

German Chancellor says Europe was free-riding on US | BBC News

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