BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — About 50 European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, will reassess their transatlantic ties in hopes that Donald Trump’s second U.S. presidency will ease the fighting and political will avoid the pitfalls of the crisis. his first government.
The already complicated situation was further exacerbated when Germany – Europe’s troubled economic juggernaut – was plunged into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister. It raises the specter of elections in a few months and another deadlock between the emboldened hard right and the established parties in Europe.
These two combined “adds even more salt and pepper to this situation,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
But the fallout from the US election was still front and center.
“Our relationship with the US is essential and we are ready to deepen it,” European Council President Charles Michel said.
The 27 countries from the European Union bloc will meet in a separate summit once other leaders from the United Kingdom, Turkey and the Balkans leave in the evening.
During his election campaign, Trump has threatened everything from a trade war with Europe to a withdrawal of NATO commitments and a fundamental shift in support for Ukraine in its war with Russia – all issues that could have game-changing consequences for countries across Europe.
Because host of the summit and avid Trump fan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said early on Thursday that he had already had a phone call with the incoming president last night, in which he announced: “We have big plans for the future!”
So did far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who praised the “deep and historic strategic partnership that has always linked Rome and Washington.”
That partnership came under constant pressure during Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
The Trump administration imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminum in 2018, based on the claim that foreign products, even if produced by US allies, posed a threat to US national security. Europeans and other allies retaliated with duties on items including U.S.-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans.
The impact of the US election result could be felt in Europe for years to come, including in the areas of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, but also in the areas of migration and climate change.
Among the leaders scheduled to attend Thursday is Zelenskyy, who is expected to again call for more aid as his country fends off Moscow’s invasion. The timing is fraught with significance as Trump has vowed to end the war “within 24 hours” of his election – something leaders in Kiev are interpreting as an impending evaporation of US support after Trump’s victory.
