The winner of the American Presidential election, Donald Trump, made his presence felt at the meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Budapest on Thursday 7 November. Upon their arrival, most of the leaders of the 42 countries taking part in the EPC were asked about the impact on Europe of Mr Trump’s return to power in the United States. That same evening, the EU27 met for dinner to discuss the topic and other issues.
Many European leaders are of the opinion that this election should very much encourage Europe to engage in dialogue with Washington. This is because “a trade war is not good for anyone”, stressed Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The leaders of Finland and Austria hold the same opinion. In the event that the future President of the United States doesn’t listen to reason and instead imposes customs duties on European exports, there is no question of the EU “responding to protectionism with protectionism”, according to the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo.
This approach does not go down well with Emmanuel Macron, however, who believes that the Union needs to move away from “naive transatlanticism”. Without calling into question the alliance with Washington, the French President insisted on the need for a strong and independent Union: speaking of Donald Trump, Macron said “He will defend the American interests. That’s legitimate and a good thing. The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest?”
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, took the same line. “Of course, we want to strengthen our ties with the United States, but we have to be more masters of our destiny and be more influential”, he insisted.
Security. Faced with the result of the elections on the other side of the Atlantic, the leaders stood united on the need for the European Union to take greater responsibility for its own security, according to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. “To put this more bluntly, we can’t wait for the Americans to protect us”, he told the press after the EPC meeting.
While fears that Washington would withdraw from the transatlantic alliance have been voiced in the past, several leaders, including the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, and the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, have reiterated that the pressure put on the allies by Donald Trump has actually been beneficial. They credited the former US President with increasing defence spending in recent years.
Ukraine. American support for Ukraine in the future is causing some concern in Europe. Several heads of state or government are hoping to be able to count on Washington in the months ahead. Others, however, believe that Mr Trump should maintain the current line as a minimum.
The latter is aware that a peace agreement cannot be ceded to Vladimir Putin at any price, according to one source. Since then, Europeans have been doing their utmost to have a say in the peace negotiations (see other news).
Charles Michel believes it is imperative that the Americans understand that it is in their interest to stand firm against Russia. “If the United States are lax with Russia, what message does that send to China?”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal with Pauline Denys)