Europe Today: Margrethe Vestager, była doradczyni cyfrowa Unii Europejskiej, reaguje na napięte rozmowy handlowe UE-USA
Zapraszamy do oglądania nowego programu Euronews „Europe Today", codziennie na żywo o 8 rano. W ciągu 15 minut informujemy na bieżąco o wszystkim, co dzieje się w Europie.
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01:00It was the first time that European officials and U.S. officials got together face-to-face in Brussels since the trade deal was agreed in July.
01:09Remember, the European Union now faces 15% tariffs.
01:12The Americans have tripled tariffs on European goods.
01:16So, yesterday, the Europeans made a point to the Americans that they want to see a form of relief, better quotas and exemptions.
01:25Of course, when you look at specific items, steel, aluminium, the tariffs are 50%.
01:30This is huge. It is a problem for the European Union.
01:35Now, the flip side, of course, is the Americans argue not so fast.
01:37We want to see a faster implementation of the deal we agreed in July, which got a lot of heat for Ursula von der Leyen.
01:44They want to see those commitments when it comes to buying the weapons, the energy and the digital rules.
01:49This is always a sticking point.
01:51Not just Trump, every U.S. administration, but the Trump administration is more aggressive.
01:56And they argue we want to see much more soft, lenient implementation of the rules.
02:01And that's why the digital rules, of course, they were the elephant in the room yesterday over those talks.
02:05How severe is this pressure on the EU to change the rules?
02:08Look, absolutely.
02:09Because, again, going back to this question of the steel and aluminium, the Europeans want to see better terms on that 50% tariff.
02:16The Americans have argued that perhaps they can debate.
02:20But first, they want to see a softer implementation of these digital rules, which, of course, for the EU are key.
02:26But I just want to play you for one second a comment yesterday on the red carpet.
02:30Euronews was there.
02:31Jamie Greer, he is the U.S. Commerce Ambassador.
02:34Let's take a look.
02:35The United States has had significant concerns for many years about the Digital Markets Act and similar legislation in the EU.
02:43Many times the thresholds are set to the extent that it's nearly only U.S. companies that are captured.
02:49The enforcement is quite aggressive at times.
02:52It becomes, you know, complying with the law can become challenging.
02:56Sometimes our companies feel like the goalposts are moved.
02:59The fines can be quite large.
03:01We know that the European Union, that these laws are important to them.
03:04We just want to make sure we're controlling for our companies that have global business models, that their global revenues aren't affected, and a variety of other things that perhaps could be modified to help accommodate their concerns and ours.
03:17And that was Jamie Sun-Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative.
03:20Maeve, that kind of language on a red carpet with the U.S. Trade Commissioner there, but also the Europeans next to him.
03:26That was very aggressive.
03:28This is not a very polite thing to say when you're meeting and you're being hosted by someone else.
03:32But, of course, they are making a very clear point.
03:35They want to see the implementation change, and they want to see American companies act in a way that they argue would be fair to their revenues.
03:43The problem for the Europeans, of course, is that this goes beyond trade.
03:46This is now about the legislation and the rule of the EU.
03:50You could argue there is a form of political interference.
03:52And yesterday, a U.S. official and a European official told me, we see this are two completely different negotiations.
03:58Steel is one thing.
03:59The digital rules are a different thing.
04:01Okay, Maria Tadeo.
04:03Euro News' EU Editor, thank you so much for all those details.
04:06And, of course, for more on that story, you can find specialised reports by our EU news team and, of course, our trade reporter, Peggy Corlan, on euronews.com.
04:13But for now, coming up, we'll be joined by Margarethe Vesteyer, the former EU competition commissioner that President Trump used to call the tax lady, known as one of the main trailblazers of the EU's landmark digital rulebook, and also for having inspired the famous Danish TV show Borgen.
04:31The Danish liberal politician spent two terms in Brussels.
04:34She was also a government minister back home, a deputy prime minister and a party leader.
04:38So, Margarethe Vesteyer, thank you so much for joining us this morning on Europe Today from Copenhagen.
04:45Lovely to have you with us.
04:46It's such a pleasure to be with you.
04:48Thank you very much for having me.
04:50So, look, you were listening to Maria Tadeo there on set.
04:52The message yesterday, cut your digital rules for lower U.S. steel tariffs.
04:57Are the Americans cornering the Europeans here, do you think?
05:01Well, these are two completely different discussions.
05:04One is steel and aluminium.
05:05It has been going on for years.
05:07The second one is about how do we live with technology, because promises were made to Europeans that digital services would be safe to use, just like any other product or service, and that the market actually would be open for competition so that we can get new products and services.
05:25This is not crazy.
05:27This is not against anyone.
05:29This is normal.
05:30This is what you would ask in a normal market.
05:32But how would you be handling this if you were still in office?
05:35We can see a lot of your work being undone here, the work that you put in place.
05:40Well, I see that the Commission is continuing the work done because promises were made to Europeans.
05:47You know, when one discusses, for instance, the Dintra Services Act, this is a very sort of simple piece of legislation just asking companies who are on our hands, in our devices, every day, for their products to be safe to use.
06:01And, of course, what the DMA is asking is that you do not misuse your market power, but, you know, that you have a competitive market.
06:09You know, actually, this is everything that you could ask for.
06:13And actually, you do see some of the U.S. states pushing for some of the same things, because it is absolutely essential that you can trust also the digital services that most of us are using every day.
06:25But that is not how the Americans see it.
06:27Do you think this could be the beginning of the end of the so-called Brussels effect, where the EU has been setting global standards?
06:33Now it could be the United States.
06:35Well, we should not be setting global standards.
06:39We set standards for ourselves, because we have a long, long, long tradition of making sure that protection of consumers goes hand in hand with innovation.
06:48That has been the goal.
06:49And actually, that has been achieved.
06:51If you see how that digital market is changing and more and more also European companies, they need to be able to reach their customers and not being kept out by gatekeepers.
07:02And how do you strike that balance, though?
07:04So that is, of course, the problem, so that innovation can thrive and we also can have strong regulation.
07:11Well, innovation thrives when you see that I want to solve a problem, not just I want to produce another service.
07:19And when you look at the European ecosystem, when it comes to everything digital, we have very strong entrepreneurs.
07:25We have very strong innovation.
07:27The thing is that we do not make sure that they have a market.
07:31And the Digital Markets Act is exactly about this.
07:33Making sure that it's your ideas, your work ethic, the people on your team that gives you a fair chance of getting to the market.
07:41We've been discussing this with the Americans ever since I took office.
07:44This is not new.
07:45What is news is that we actually deliver it to Europeans as promised.
07:49But did you over-regulate during your term?
07:51Well, I see in the Omnibus proposal just tabled that there are actually some quite pragmatic, sensible simplifications when it comes, for instance, to cookies, when it comes to when to implement and how to enforce the AI Act.
08:10And I think that is really important because, of course, you can always do better.
08:15But one thing is important, and that is that we have promised Europeans that their services would be safe to use for their mental health, for their democracy as such.
08:25And that is, of course, core in any democracy that you stand by the promises made.
08:29And that U.S.-EU trade deal, Margaret Sevesh, there, was it a bad deal for Europe?
08:35I think it was a wise thing not to take the bait and escalate the conflict.
08:41Of course, some areas are not within that deal.
08:44But I think in a world like this, some level of predictability is actually worthwhile.
08:49And we could conclude the single market and kind of make up for the increased tariffs.
08:55And just what about Ukraine?
08:56That is, of course, a big story we're keeping a very close eye on this week.
09:00What should the Europeans be doing now to make sure they're heard in these very important talks, to make sure they have a seat at the table?
09:06Well, having followed the developments over the last week, you know, I was completely devastated when I saw the first U.S. proposal.
09:16But the negotiations that have been ongoing actually shows that there has been a listening, that European concerns and how we have obliged ourselves to peace in our region.
09:30I think that is a positive development.
09:33But so far, it's completely impossible to say what comes out of it.
09:37But I think that the ask to be at the table is completely legitimate.
09:41OK, Margaret Sevesh, thank you so much for that.
09:43And I hope you can join us next time here in the studio when you're passing through Brussels.
09:48But now, as you heard now, Ukraine's future is still unsure after the Kremlin said that the European counterproposal does not work.
09:56Quote, leaders from the Coalition of the Willing, i.e. Ukraine's allies, will be gathering today via video call.
10:01Our reporters, Jakob Yanis and Jorge Libreiro, have been comparing the various proposals on the table.
10:06Bypassing Brussels, Washington presented a 28-point blueprint directly negotiated with Moscow to put an end to Russia's all-out war against Ukraine.
10:20Europe has now responded.
10:22A side-by-side comparison reveals three fundamental differences.
10:26What are they?
10:26First, money.
10:29The US-Russia plan would unblock the frozen Russian assets to create two investment vehicles, with Washington taking half the profits from the Ukraine's reconstruction fund.
10:38The European plan insists that the assets must remain frozen until Russia fully compensates Ukraine for the destruction.
10:46Second, security.
10:48The US-Russia plan would cap Ukraine's army at 600,000 personnel at all times.
10:55Europe raises that limit to 800,000 in peacetime only, giving Kiev the flexibility to scale up if threatened.
11:04Crucially, the Europeans demand a seat on a joint security task force alongside Ukraine, refusing to let Washington and Moscow decide the continent's fate alone.
11:15Third, territory.
11:16The US-Russia plan accepts occupied Crimea, Lugansk and Donetsk regions as...
11:25...to recognise borders changed by force.
11:28It all leads us to one fundamental question.
11:32Who decides the borders of Europe?
11:34An inviting military force?
11:36Or the European principles of sovereignty?
11:39And for more context on this, we can now bring in our EU news editor, Maria Tseo, back.
11:47Welcome back.
11:48Look, the Kremlin has rejected this European plan, but there seems to be a bit of cautious optimism in Brussels.
11:54Where do we go from here?
11:54Well, Maeve, no question, because that original 28-point plan obviously was clearly tilted in Russia's favour.
12:00However, the issue here, and this is the crux of the matter, is that what works for Russia does not work for Ukraine, and what works for Ukraine does not work for Russia.
12:09Nonetheless, this 28-point plan has changed.
12:12We now understand it is 19 points.
12:14The Ukrainians also now...
12:15So now, yesterday, President Zelensky just checked this set.
12:18After Geneva, remember, they met on Sunday.
12:21There are fewer points.
12:22It is no longer 28.
12:23Many correct considerations have been taken into account, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and it will be difficult to produce a final document.
12:32So, obviously, what we see here is that the Ukrainians now believe they have managed to insert some of their demands.
12:39There is speculation that President Trump and President Zelensky could meet in America this week.
12:45There is no date for it.
12:46This would be for the critical political points.
12:49And then, of course, it does also seem that this deadline for Thursday has somewhat eased.
12:54And that's, of course, indeed good news.
12:55And just briefly, the Coalition of the Willing will be gathering today.
12:58What are your expectations for their meetings?
13:00Well, Coalition of the Willing, and, of course, a reminder for our viewers, this is a group of countries that are supportive of the UK, some of the EU, but not just led by the UK and France.
13:11They will gather today.
13:13The idea is what else can the Europeans offer and put on the table to sway this deal in favor of Ukraine.
13:19I was told, however, yesterday by a diplomat, it seems that things are moving better.
13:24There is less panic compared to a week ago, but also something very important.
13:28The Europeans believe that this plan, the 28-point plan, as it was done, is over.
13:34And this is not a static negotiation.
13:36It can improve.
13:37So, indeed, cautious optimism.
13:38And, of course, this topic will be dominating MEPs while they gather as well in Strasbourg this week.
13:43And, Maria, today, you'll be in Strasbourg as well for us tomorrow.
13:45So we look forward for your update then.
13:47But now, this does bring this edition of Europe Today to an end.
13:50Thank you so much for tuning in.
13:52For more news and analysis, do take a look at yournews.com or keep an eye on our social media networks.
13:56You can also check out our new formats, The Ring and 12 Minutes With, on Euronews.
14:01And I'll be back tomorrow morning here on Euronews.
14:03See you then.
14:04We'll be back tomorrow morning here on Euronews.
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