50 European leaders assess future, seek common stance on Russia

Around 50 European leaders on Thursday called for a stronger defence posture across the continent that no longer necessitates a fundamental dependence on Washington as they gave a guarded welcome to incoming US President Donald Trump.

The European Political Community summit on Thursday in Hungary’s capital Budapest reassessed trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Trump’s second presidency will avoid the strife of his first administration.

“He was elected by the American people. He will defend the American interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron told the other leaders, adding that it was not the role of European Union leaders to “comment on the election ... to wonder if it is good or not.”

“The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest. It is the only question. It is our priority,” Macron said.

Time and again, leaders stepped up to say European defence efforts should be increased.

During his first 2017-2021 presidency, Trump strongly pushed the European NATO allies to spend more on defence, up to and beyond 2 per cent of gross domestic product, and to be less reliant on military cover by the United States. That point has totally sunk in.

“He was the one in NATO who stimulated us to move over the two per cent. And now, also thanks to him, NATO, if you take out the numbers of the US, is above the two per cent,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said.

Charles Michel, the council president of the 27-nation EU, agreed that the continent needed to become less reliant on the United States.

“We have to be more masters of our destiny,” he said. “Not because of Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, but because of our children.”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was “time to wake up from our geopolitical naivete and to realize that we need to commit additional resources in order to be able to address major challenges. It is a (question of) competitiveness and a European defence.”

During his election campaign, Trump threatened anything from a trade war with Europe to a withdrawal from NATO commitments and a fundamental shift of support for Ukraine in its war with Russia — all issues that could have groundbreaking consequences for nations across Europe.

“Of course he said a lot of things during the campaign,” said Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, adding they won’t all be appearing in his official policies. “Transatlantic cooperation is of the utmost importance both for the US and European interests.”

Russia-Ukraine war

For now, European leaders hope a new beginning holds the promise of smoother relations.

Rutte, who was Dutch prime minister during Trump’s first presidency, said, “I worked with him very well for four years. He is extremely clear about what he wants. He understands that you have to deal with each other to come to joint positions. And I think we can do that.”

And Rutte insisted that the challenges posed by Russia in Ukraine affected both sides of the Atlantic.

“Russia is delivering the latest technology into North Korea in return for North Korean help with the war against Ukraine. And this is a threat not only to the European part of NATO, but also to the US mainland,” he said as he arrived at the summit.

During the campaign, Trump said if he were re-elected, he would end the war in Ukraine, now well into its third year, in a single day. Ukraine and many of its European backers fear that this means a peace on terms favourable to Russian President Vladimir Putin and involving the surrender of territory.

European allies in NATO hope to convince Trump that if he helps to negotiate any peace, it should be done from a position of strength, for both Ukraine and the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke to Trump last night by phone, told reporters in Budapest that Europe and the US need each other to remain strong.

“It was a good, productive conversation. Of course, we cannot yet know what his specific actions will be. But we hope that America will become stronger. This is the kind of America Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs. This is the bond between allies that should be valued and must not be lost,” he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the summit’s host and an ardent Trump fan, said early Thursday that he already had a phone call with the incoming president overnight, announcing, “We have big plans for the future!”

So did hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who lauded the “deep and historic strategic partnership that has always tied Rome and Washington.”

That partnership came under constant pressure during Trump’s first term. Trump’s administration slapped tariffs on EU steel and aluminum in 2018, based on the claim that foreign products, even if produced by American allies, were a threat to US national security. Europeans and other allies retaliated with duties on US-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans, among other items.

Further compounding an already complicated situation in Europe, Germany — the continent’s troubled economic juggernaut — sank into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, causing his governing coalition to collapse. Scholz, who remained in Berlin instead of joining the summit in Budapest, will now lead a minority government.

The turmoil raises the spectre of an election in a few months and yet another stand-off between the emboldened hard right and the establishment parties in Europe.

Those two combined “adds even more pepper and salt to this situation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

– AP