Europe Today: Chair of the EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee joins us live

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00:00Good morning, it is Thursday the 15th of January. I'm Maeve McMahan and this is Europe Today,

00:21your daily dose of European news and analysis live here on Euronews.

00:25Coming up today, we agree to disagree. A high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of Denmark

00:32and Greenland ended without resolution in Washington yesterday. Donald Trump is still

00:38insisting Greenland is crucial for national security. Meanwhile, several NATO allies have

00:43announced troop deployments to Greenland for surveillance and training. For more on this,

00:48we can actually cross now over to NATO headquarters outside Brussels where our correspondent Shona

00:53Murray is standing by for us. So good morning, Shona. Things didn't go just as well as hoped

00:58in Washington. Tell us what exactly happened.

01:03Well, Maeve, if the object of the conversation was to persuade the United States that it shouldn't

01:08or doesn't need to take over Greenland, then unfortunately it wasn't a success. As we heard

01:12from the two foreign affairs ministers, there was fundamental disagreements and they remain.

01:17Now, I think from a Greenlandish and Danish perspective, what they did do was they said

01:21they were able to challenge the narrative of the United States, which is that they need to take

01:25over Greenland because there's Chinese warships everywhere. They said that is not true. There

01:30hasn't been a Chinese warship there for over a decade. They also made the point that the United

01:34States already has extensive access to Greenland and at one point had 17 military bases there.

01:40It only has one now, but that's through its own volition. And finally, they said, look,

01:44we do agree that there will be security issues in the future, given the opening up of sea lanes.

01:49But that security issue, that architecture should be done within NATO and not unilaterally by the

01:55United States. Just take a listen to that press conference from the two foreign affairs ministers

01:59yesterday.

02:00The discussions focus on how to ensure the long term security in Greenland. And here our perspectives

02:07continue to differ, I must say. The president has made his view clear and we have a different

02:15position. Denmark's foreign minister there, Lars-Luka Rasmussen speaking. So, Shona, just tell us,

02:21where does this leave the matter of Greenland now?

02:25Well, that's obviously a very interesting question. What we heard yesterday and what you

02:29mentioned at the start is that some NATO countries have deployed armed forces to Greenland, countries

02:35like Norway, Denmark, Sweden and France. That's obviously in response to this instability, which is

02:40evolving. There is also an agreement to have a forum to try to resolve this issue. But we don't

02:46exactly know what the United States will do because it says it's intent on taking over Greenland

02:50or acquiring it. Will that be through military force? It doesn't look like that might be the

02:54case. Is it going to be through coercion? So the issue really remains an open one and a very,

03:00very dangerous and threatening one.

03:02And yesterday, your news caught up with John Bolton, who's Donald Trump's former national security

03:07advisor, a man who was a key proponent in the invasion of Iraq, it must be said.

03:11And he said this is a very bad idea. And he also made the point that only 8 percent of Americans

03:16actually think the United States should do this and try to take over Greenland.

03:21Well, I think it's a disaster for the United States, as I say, that we're even talking about

03:25this. It's just the talk, though, of using military forces costing the U.S. in terms you can't even

03:31calculate in terms of trust and good faith and our reputation. And we can say there there's a new

03:38poll out today that shows exactly 8 percent of the American people favor the use of force to take

03:44Greenland. I'd like to ask that 8 percent if they even know where Greenland is.

03:48John Bolton there, the former U.S. security advisor. And you can catch the rest of that

03:52interview on Euronews' 12 minutes before, of course, we had our Shona Murray reporting live for us from

03:56NATO. Well, another topic that NATO allies are monitoring very closely is President Donald

04:01Trump's next moves in Iran. This time yesterday, a U.S.-led military strike was looking increasingly

04:07likely with several European countries, from Poland to Italy, urging their citizens to leave

04:13immediately. But now it seems that Donald Trump has dialled down the tone. For more on this,

04:19we're joined on set here by Euronews' EU editor, Maria Tadeo. So President Trump seems a little bit

04:23more measured now. Fill us in. Well, he certainly is, because remember, Maeve, at the start of the

04:28week, the president himself put out a post on social media saying, hold on tight in the protests

04:34in the country, which have been really a massacre, a number, specific number, very difficult to place.

04:40They go all the way from 2,000 people killed on the streets of Iran to 10,000. Very difficult to

04:45establish communications with the country because of this blackout we've seen for the past few days.

04:49But remember, the U.S. president himself said help is on its way yesterday night. However,

04:55he changed his tone, now suggesting that he has it from good authority, from good sources,

05:01that the killings have stopped. He did not elaborate, of course, and that is still a pending

05:05question mark. But let's take a look and listen to President Trump yesterday night.

05:09We have been informed by very important sources on the other side, and they've said the killing has

05:14stopped and the executions won't take place. There was supposed to be a lot of executions,

05:19today, and that the executions won't take place. And we're going to find out. I mean,

05:23I'll find out after this. You'll find out. But we've been told on good authority,

05:28and I hope it's true. Who knows, right? Who knows?

05:32We've seen body bags. So how do you trust them?

05:34No, no. You've seen that over the last few days. And they said people were shooting at them

05:39with guns, and they were shooting back. And, you know, it's one of those things. But

05:43they told me that there'll be no executions.

05:47And that's President Trump. They told me there will be no executions. Of course,

05:51there was a lot of concern that there could be public executions. We've seen the face of this

05:5426-year-old man from Iran, who, again, there was this idea that there could be severe punishment all

06:00the way to death in public. I should also note Iran's foreign minister was also in U.S. television

06:06saying the question, the idea that we are going to be publicly hanging people,

06:10that is not going to happen instead of the question. So obviously, the language has been

06:13toned down on the two sides. I should note, however, when you look at the region, and that

06:19goes for the Gulf countries, but also Israel, this is a Middle East that is still very much on edge.

06:24And we should look at the operational details on the map. The U.S. did pull back some of their

06:29non-essential personnel and some of the key military bases in the region. You only do that if you believe

06:34Iran is going to retaliate in some form. And Iran would only retaliate if they get hit by the U.S.

06:39first. So, Maeve, this is part of this doctrine of the maximum optionality from the White House.

06:44It means that the fact that a strike is not imminent does not mean it's not going to happen

06:48in the future. It's chaotic at times, but it's also effective because it keeps everyone

06:52on their toes, certainly.

06:54It does indeed. And it keeps you on your toes, Marie. So, your news, you, Edda, thank you so much

06:58for all those insights. And as you heard there, thousands of anti-government protesters are feared

07:03dead or imprisoned since the start of that brutal crackdown last month. And an internet blackdown

07:08is still in place. Our Jakob Yanis has been taking a look at the killing machine behind

07:12the crackdown.

07:14This theocracy should no longer be in power. European Parliament President Robert Ametsola

07:22was clear on Euronews. The Iranian regime is on its last legs. But standing between the

07:28protesters and the regime there is one ruthless entity. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

07:35Who are they? They are not just an army. They are an elite killing machine founded in 1979

07:45to protect the ideology of the revolution. And they answer only to the supreme leader.

07:52It is an estimated force of the 100,000 elite troops, backed by a 600,000 strong Basij paramilitary

08:00network. In return for their loyalty, the state grants them a massive gold chest. Six to nine

08:08billion dollars. A budget estimated to be nearly double dots of the regular army. But they are

08:15also a business conglomerate. An empire within an empire, controlling sectors from energy to telecoms.

08:23And with thousands of protesters presumed dead, these billions buy the loyalty that pulls the trigger.

08:31So why hasn't the EU designated them as a terrorist organization yet? The European Parliament has called

08:39for it for years. But EU law requires a national court ruling first and a consensus next. A recent

08:47court case in Germany finally provided the legal cover. European leaders are now calling for more

08:54sanctions to hurt the regime economically. But will these actions be enough to stop the massacre on the

09:00streets of Iran?

09:06Yeah, Kopiannis reporting there. And for more on the situation in Iran coming up, we'll be joined by David

09:13MacAllister, German veteran MEP and chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, a member of

09:19course of the CDU, the European People's Party here in Brussels. Good morning, David MacAllister.

09:24Good morning. Great to be here. Yeah, lovely to have you here on Europe Today. And look, the scale of the

09:28carnage is just starting to emerge really from Iran. What is the EU and the Parliament doing to support

09:33people on the ground? Well, we're all observing the situation in Iran now for many weeks with great

09:39concern. And these massacres in Iran are just horrific. What we as European Union can do is to show all

09:46our solidarity with the brave people in Iran who are protesting against this regime. And we have to

09:53increase our pressure on the regime of the Mullah. That means increasing sanctions, new sanctions, putting up

09:59political pressure. And of course, as just mentioned in the report, the European Parliament has called now for

10:04many years that the Revolutionary Guards should be listed as a terrorist organisation.

10:09Well, indeed, that's something that's been on your priority list for years. But why is this not happening? It should

10:13finally happen. What are the political and legal barriers here?

10:16Well, as we just heard, it requires a court case, which is now, that has now happened in Germany. And then we need

10:22consensus among the 27 member states. And obviously, there are a few member states which still have

10:27a different opinion. I don't agree with this. The European Parliament has clearly demanded to list

10:31them to call a spade a spade. And the last important country which also listed the

10:38Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation was Australia in November last year. So what Australia has

10:44done, what the United States has done, I think it's now time for the European Union to do the same.

10:48But indeed, as you say, it is political. What about Donald Trump's intentions in Iran? Are they making

10:54you nervous, even though now he has dialed down the tone?

10:58Well, what we just heard and saw this morning is that there will be no public executions. This first

11:08step by the Mullah regime might also be a result of increased American pressure. But the situation in Iran

11:16remains tense. And let's be very clear, the regime of the Mullah has oppressed their own people now for

11:25decades, and is a real source of destabilisation in the entire region.

11:31And that's the issue. Can we trust Donald Trump when he says this?

11:33Well, I think you always have to take very seriously what Mr President Trump says. But also Mr Trump's

11:40policies are in the end unpredictable. But I think it's clear that the Americans in the moment will

11:45not 100% be clear what they're actually going to do with or in Iran.

11:49And what about Greenland? As you heard, their talks broke down yesterday in Washington DC. What is the

11:54Parliament and the EU doing to have a say? Greenland is a sovereign part of the Kingdom

12:01of Denmark. Greenland is sovereign. And that means that every country should respect the

12:06territorial sovereignty and integrity of Greenland. The European Parliament has been very clear,

12:11the group leaders and the Conference of Presidents yesterday adopted a very clear statement

12:16where we stand side by side with the Kingdom of Denmark, with Greenland, and the future of Greenland

12:23will be decided by the people of Greenland in Greenland in close coordination with the Kingdom

12:28of Denmark. But is there any leverage you as the Parliament can actually use? A lot of MEPs have

12:32called for freezing the EU-US trade deal, for example, as a way to put leverage on Donald Trump.

12:37Well, first of all, we've been very clear in our commitment towards Greenland. The European

12:42Union will step up its engagement in Greenland. What about freezing those talks? The financial

12:48support for Greenland will be doubled in the next annual multi-financial framework. If the talks

12:53the decision on the US trade deal will be stalled or not, that has to be decided in the European

12:57Parliament. I understand that there are different views within the political groups. What's your

13:00view? I personally believe that the EPP line is that we should separate the two issues. We need to

13:07finalise the US trade talks because our companies need predictability, they need stability. On the other

13:14hand, I understand that we need to find majorities. And in the moment, I think the EPP and the European

13:20Conservatives are for moving forward, whereas the Socialists, the Liberals and Greens perhaps

13:26want to postpone the vote. We will see.

13:28And finally, a brief point on the Ukraine-Russia war, which of course is still ongoing, even

13:32though President Trump's mind is elsewhere. Is it time now, do you think, to talk to Vladimir Putin?

13:37We all want peace. But this peace needs to be just, and it needs to be sustainable. And this,

13:46and this is the most important point, includes security guarantees for Ukraine. Mr Putin could

13:52stop this war if he stopped bombing innocent civilians immediately. He has shown no interest in this

13:58until now. And that's why our position as the European Union is we stand with our Ukrainian

14:03partners. And last year, of course, was the deadliest year yet for Ukrainian civilians. Thank you so

14:08much, David MacArthur, for being our guest today on Europe Today. And thank you so much for tuning in.

14:13For more news and analysis, do check your news or download our app. I look forward to seeing

14:17you again tomorrow morning. Bye from Brussels.

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