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Europe Today: Elon Musk calls for the EU to be abolished
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Tune in to Euronews' new flagship morning programme, Europe Today, at 8 am Brussels time. In just 15 minutes, we bring you up to speed on the biggest news of the day.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/08/europe-today-eu-vs-musk-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-and-migrations
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, it is Monday the 8th of December. I'm Maeve McMahan and this is Europe Today,
00:21your news's daily live fix of European news and analysis. Coming up today, Elon Musk has said
00:28the European Union should be abolished for issuing his social media platform X with a fine of 120
00:34million euros. But the Commission says this fine is a response to several violations of its Digital
00:40Services Act. It's the first fine ever issued under this landmark legislation that aspires to
00:45keep Europeans safe online. This, as the US administration warns in a controversial national
00:51security document, that Europe must change or face civilisation erasure. For more on this story,
00:58let's turn to Maria Today, your news's EU editor. Good morning, Maria. Bring us up to speed on this
01:03story. There's a lot to digest this morning. Well, there's a lot and the EU really caught up in this
01:07vortex over the weekend, which, as you say, really started on the Friday morning when the US put out
01:13and Europeans found out about this national security strategy in this document. The US does say Europe
01:20is a natural ally, but they also argue in unusual language. To some extent, we could question whether
01:26it or not as diplomatic that Europe has to go back to its former greatness. It also argues that illegal,
01:33uncontrolled migration, bad economic policies, too much regulation, all of this put together could end
01:39the European civilization as we know it. The document presented by the US also welcomes European
01:45patriotic parties who, they argue, are resisting this trajectory. And the US, they add, should help
01:51contribute to change this trajectory. Obviously, this is unusual language. It's not shocking. It's not
01:57really surprising because it builds up really on the speech that the US Vice President J.D. Vance gave
02:02at the Munich Security Conference. The only difference, of course, is that it is now in writing. I should
02:08note, however, over the weekend, I spoke with European officials who told me, look, this document has
02:13little to do with national security and a lot about what they perceive is political interference. Now,
02:20the second part to this has to do with Elon Musk. The commission fined X, 120 million euros for
02:27breaching transparency rules in the European Union. The fine, the amount, I should note, it's quite small
02:32compared to other penalties on US big tech. Nonetheless, it triggered a big response from
02:38Elon Musk, who's been tweeting about the European Union all over the weekend. He started,
02:42and hopefully we can put it up on the screen, saying the EU is not a democracy. It has become
02:48a bureaucracy. It should be dismantled, abolished. The EU, quite strong language. The commission is
02:54still defending this fine, saying it is appropriate. They believe they have a strong legal case. And if
02:58he disagrees, he can take it to court in a court of justice, of course.
03:03And Maria, how has the EU been responding to the unprecedented language from the other side of
03:06the pond, from, in theory, their biggest ally?
03:08Yes. And, you know, when we look at the EU as an institution, very timidly, no word from the head
03:15of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, no word from the head of the European Council either. But we
03:19did speak with Kaya Callas, the foreign office chief policy from the EU. She told us the way to look at
03:26this is that domestic issues have to be dealt by the EU on external matters and conflicts. We should
03:32still work together with the United States. Let's take a look.
03:36Let's focus on the things that we can do together. I mean, what we can take from that
03:41security strategy is that we are still, you know, allies with America. We don't always see eye to eye
03:48on everything, but it's our internal matters. We can handle ourselves. Let's focus on the global
03:54challenges that we actually have, which are, you know, economic cursive practices from China that we are
04:00both, you know, faced with, which is the threat that comes from malign actors like Russia, like China,
04:08like Iran. So we definitely need to focus on what we can do together. And, you know, domestic issues,
04:16let us let them be our domestic issues.
04:18And that was Kaya Callas speaking to your news note, how she said three times these are domestic
04:24issues. That's for the EU, the capitals, much stronger language. The French foreign minister
04:29saying the commission is right. And this is just a start. The Polish foreign minister, much stronger
04:34language. He tweeted directly at Elon Musk saying, go to Mars. There is no censorship for Nazi salutes there.
04:40Obviously, that's a reference to another controversy as to whether or not Elon Musk had made
04:44a Nazi salute at a rally at the start of this year. But maybe what we're seeing, of course, is a lot of
04:49cacophony, because there is no single strategy in terms of how to deal with the United States at this
04:55point. For the EU, the institution, I repeat, it has been so far about de-escalation, hoping to stabilise
05:01the relationship, although that's not really been the case. The tariffs went ahead, 8 to 5 percent on Ukraine,
05:06very difficult situation. But for the time being, the strategy continues to be don't engage publicly.
05:11Indeed, a very tricky time for the transatlantic tie. Thank you so much, Maria Tadeo, Euronews' EU editor
05:16for that. And if you're listening to Maria's analysis there about Elon Musk and thinking, you have seen this
05:21movie before, you're right. It is not the first time the EU and Elon Musk find themselves in the online
05:27boxing ring. Our reporter Jakob Janis has this refresher.
05:32Over the weekend, there was yet another battle between the EU and Elon Musk, who claims the European
05:38Union should be dismantled. It sounds extreme, but if you look at the timetable, the bells have been
05:46ringing for some time already. Let's go back to July 2024. Musk claimed Brussels offered him a secret
05:54illegal deal to censor speech. Fact check. It was a standard compliance procedure offered to every platform,
06:02but Musk used it to frame himself as a victim. Then was August 2024. The European Commission sent a
06:11formal warning letter to follow EU law. In response, Musk tweeted a very non-diplomatic meme from the movie
06:19Tropic Thunder. In late 2024, he told German voters to back the far-right alternative for Deutschland. And then he
06:28attacked Italian judges on migration, claiming they need to go. And his current battle is against the 120
06:36million euro fine for his social media platform, X. However, the fine is not about supposed censorship,
06:44but about consumer fraud. It means selling verification to anyone, including bots, actively blocking researchers
06:52from seeing public data and hiding who actually pays for the arts you see.
07:01Given that the penalty is well below the maximum possible fine, we need to ask one question.
07:08Is the game you play, Elon, actually about business? Or maybe it's about something else?
07:14Jakob Yanis there. Well, coming up, we'll be joined by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya,
07:23the exiled opposition leader of the Belarusian democratic movement, who emerged after challenging
07:28Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election. Forced to flee her home
07:35country, she now dedicates her time to advocating for democratic Belarus and resisting the regime's role
07:41in Russia's war against Ukraine. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, great to have you with us here
07:45on Europe Today. Good morning. Welcome to Brussels. First, how is your
07:49your husband, Sergei, doing? He was released this summer after many years behind bars in Belarus.
07:54He's gone through the process of rehabilitation because all the political prisoners are really
07:59exhausted physically, but he's not broken mentally and give a boost of energy to our movement.
08:05And of course, it was thanks to the Americans that helped orchestrate his release.
08:08We saw Keith Kellogg there engaging in dialogue with Lukashenko. Do you trust them now to help end
08:14the war in Ukraine? Look, we all want peace. And of course, I'm so grateful to President Trump
08:20personally and his team for releasing political prisoners from Belarus. But of course, the future
08:26of our country depends on the outcome of the war in Ukraine. And of course, we all want just and
08:32long-lasting peace, not just, you know, temporary relief to give opportunity to Russia to regroup and
08:38start attacking again. But also, what is important for us is that during these negotiations, Belarus
08:44aspect is also included, that Belarus is not giving as consolation prize to Putin, that Belarus will not
08:50lose our independence. And that's why we need a strong Europe as a player in these negotiations that
08:57will be the voice of Belarusian people. Because a bad deal for Ukraine would be detrimental, I imagine,
09:03for Belarus? Absolutely, yes. We understand that if Ukraine loses this war, hopefully it will not
09:10happen and we'll keep strong alliance around Ukraine. It will mean a status quo for Belarus for
09:16rages and Russia will continue to subjugate our country. But how would you describe the current talks
09:21taking place? We saw three days of talks in Florida this weekend, there was no breakthrough.
09:25Are they really peace talks or are they more surrender talks?
09:29It depends on the strong position of Europe. First of all, of course, you know, President Trump,
09:34he might want fast peace in Ukraine. But for us, it's more about security architecture, it's about
09:43region. It's more than about only Ukraine, it's about all European neighborhoods, Moldova, Belarus,
09:49Georgia, Armenia and so on and so forth. So that's why here Europe has to remain with its strong,
09:56bold and firm position and defending and protecting all our region.
10:02Do you think Europe has been too weak so far in these talks?
10:07I think that Europe is much stronger than it might seem, it might think about itself. But
10:14we maybe need more unity, more boldness, because any hesitation or undecisiveness is
10:24perceived as weakness by dictators. And now we see that Russia, together with the other regimes and
10:31Lukashenko, they are testing the borders of Europe.
10:35Well, we can see that. I mean, the EU has been furious as well with these balloon incursions
10:40coming into Lithuania. Lithuania declaring a state of emergency. The Belarusian appointee
10:44here in Brussels has been summoned by the Commission. What's going on and what's behind this?
10:48Now, all these metal balloons and drones, it's part of hybrid attacks on Europe, the same as migration
10:58crisis and hijacking of airplanes, so on and so forth. So we see how dictators are trying to
11:07blackmail, constant blackmail Europe, just to see how far they can go without a strong response.
11:13And in our case, I think that it's very, maybe effective tool to close the borders for trade, for
11:20goods, but not for people. Just be tough on the regimes, but be very open for the societies.
11:26And Belarus Lukashenko, he's also been weaponizing migration. We've seen a lot.
11:30Yeah, you know, it's last many years already, and these migration attacks are continuing. It's also
11:38one more tool in the data's hands, how to weaken or test or blackmail our Western neighbors.
11:46And finally, President Zelenskyy will travel to London today. He'll be sitting down with Friedrich
11:51Merz, the German Chancellor, President Macron of France. Any expectations for those talks today?
11:55I hope that it will be unity around Ukraine, about our region, that Ukraine will be given
12:04everything they need to win this war. We don't have to follow President Trump's path because his
12:12approach is more transactional, but we have to think more strategically about
12:18security architecture for years ahead.
12:20Thank you so much for coming into us today here and speaking to us on Europe Today.
12:26Well, meanwhile, this Monday in Brussels, EU justice ministers from all across the block will be
12:31gathering for talks on the implementation of the EU migration pact. Their gathering takes place after
12:37reports came from Crete this weekend that 18 people lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
12:43Ida Sanchez reports.
12:47Migration management in the EU takes a big step this Monday. For the first time ever,
12:52four EU countries will receive direct help.
12:57Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain will benefit from a so-called solidarity pool set up to better manage
13:05migration flows. From relocations to cash injections, countries should be able to rely on this support.
13:13But until ministers make a decision today in Brussels, the proposal made by the Commission is just an idea.
13:21Ask how much and who will pay is still the big question on the table. One thing is clear. Under the new
13:31migration and asylum pact, no country will be forced to accept relocations.
13:38This was one of the most controversial points of the proposal. Countries like Poland and Hungary completely
13:44opposed the idea. Last month, the European Commission presented their first annual report on migration flows
13:51in each country. They identified who they thought needed support.
13:59The so-called solidarity mechanism, one of the most controversial parts of the migration pact,
14:05will be applied from June 2026.
14:16And for more on the outcome of those talks in Brussels today, keep an eye on Euronews.com.
14:21But that brings this Monday's edition of Europe Today to an end. Thank you so much for tuning in and
14:26for being with us. We'll be back, of course, tomorrow morning again with another episode. See you then,
14:30and take care.
15:00Bye-bye.
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