00:00Because I want to bring in now our Brussels correspondent, Dave Keating, just on comments that we've heard from NATO's head, Mark Rutte, today.
00:08They've sparked concern across Europe.
00:10He was speaking in Berlin, warning that Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years.
00:16And he's also urged allies to rapidly increase defense spending and production.
00:19He's warned, we are the next target. Let's take a listen.
00:25We are Russia's next target.
00:28And we are already in harm's way.
00:32We must all accept that we must act to defend our way of life now.
00:39Because this year, Russia has become even more brazen, reckless and ruthless.
00:46Towards NATO and towards Ukraine.
00:50Russia has brought war back to Europe.
00:52And we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.
01:00Dave Keating, these are quite strong statements.
01:02And they were earlier framed as saying that basically war could be on the horizon for Europe beyond Ukraine.
01:08Yeah, it's a very strong statement to say that Europeans need to prepare for the scale of war that their grandparents and great-grandparents endured.
01:19In other words, we are imminently in a situation like World War II.
01:24Now, this five-year figure that he said is something we hear a lot here in Brussels from officials.
01:29This is kind of the consensus time frame that people think that we have until Russia invades the European Union.
01:37Some have even put this figure at even shorter, at three years.
01:42And so the purpose, clearly, here is to put a sense of urgency with the public.
01:48Because when you talk to policy officials and politicians, there is a consensus, I think, that Russia is at least thinking about invading the European Union.
01:59But when you talk to citizens out there, there is really absolutely no understanding of this.
02:04Particularly when I'm outside of the Brussels bubble.
02:08People are not really...
02:10A lot of people just don't believe these claims.
02:12So I'm not sure that Ruta's speech today will be able to convince the Europeans that don't believe this, that believe that this is fear-mongering, that this is spending that's meant to benefit the U.S. military-industrial complex and things like that.
02:27I hear that quite often.
02:29But this is extremely stark terms.
02:31And I think, clearly, the motivation here is to put the people of Europe in a mindset that prepares them for a wartime footing.
02:39That's at least in terms of the military, Dave.
02:42EU states have also been outlining ways in which they can at least clear the hurdles for those frozen Russian assets up to €200 billion, which would at least go some way in terms of helping Ukraine in its efforts.
02:57It has been blocked by Hungary.
02:59But now, today, there has been, as I mentioned, something in terms of a development.
03:06Yeah, there has been a breakthrough today.
03:08We're not at the end of the line here in terms of getting the frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
03:14But a big hurdle was cleared today when the national governments decided to use this very specific clause in the EU treaties that allows countries to be outvoted.
03:24Now, normally, on foreign policy issues, you have to have unanimity.
03:29That is, any country can veto.
03:31So, and not only are we looking at Hungary certainly vetoing any use of these funds, but also Belgium is now worried of the legal repercussions of the use of these funds, since most of the funds are here in Belgium.
03:44What they did today was agree to use the specific instrument that means that countries cannot veto.
03:50So, that means that this clears the hurdle that Hungary and also Slovakia, the two Russia-friendly governments in the EU, won't be able to veto the continuation of the freezing of those assets so that they would go back to Russia before the EU is able to confiscate them and give them to Ukraine.
04:08However, Belgium is still not agreeing to this.
04:12The Belgian Prime Minister, Bart Deweyver, is still saying that he's worried that a successful Russian legal challenge will leave Belgian taxpayers on the hook for this in the years to come if Russia succeeds in the war and then is able to prosecute this in the international courts.
04:29He says he needs cast-iron guarantees from the EU that, if that happens, EU taxpayers as a whole will have to pay for that, not just Belgian taxpayers.
04:39They've been working today on trying to give some guarantees on that front, but so far we have not heard from the Belgians that they are relenting.
04:47It's going to have to be something that's going to have to be something that's settled next week at the summit of EU prime ministers and presidents when the other leaders will press upon Prime Minister Deweyver himself in person at that summit here in Brussels.
05:00But what today's move means is that he could, in theory, be outvoted.
05:04I cannot imagine they're going to do that given that the majority of the funds is here in Belgium, but after today, it's a possibility.
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