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01:17We're having some difficulties there.
01:21We're having a couple of difficulties, but not to worry because, of course, the EU leaders debated deep into the night on all the challenges facing the Union.
01:29And in fact, coming up to find out exactly what was discussed in the room, we'll be joined by one of them.
01:34The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paris since 2019.
01:39He's also the president of the centre-right New Democracy Party since January 2016.
01:43Affiliated with the European People's Party since coming into office, he's been focusing on economic forums and attracting FDI.
01:49Good morning.
01:50Good morning. I'm happy to take Shona's place.
01:52Absolutely. I mean, it's wonderful to have you because as our viewers are probably wondering what goes on at those EU summits, what do you talk about?
01:59Until the early hours of the morning.
02:01And last night was rather tense.
02:03We see EU leaders visibly exhausted, Prime Minister.
02:06Is this because of their workload or is this because of Donald Trump?
02:09Well, first of all, I can tell you that these summits are complicated.
02:13You know, 27 of us, and if you also include the High Commissioner, the President of the Commission, the President of the Council, it takes a lot of time to go around the table.
02:20But I think yesterday was a very good discussion.
02:24There is, in spite of the sense of restlessness, a real sense of purpose about Europe getting its act together.
02:32The transatlantic relationship is becoming more complicated.
02:36It needs to be managed in a different way.
02:38And was Donald Trump the elephant in the room?
02:40Europe needs to stand up for its own interests.
02:43Of course, the U.S. President was mentioned.
02:46I think it is good that he made comments to clearly indicate that he wants to de-escalate the situation in Greenland.
02:52I think it is very positive that Europe stood up with one voice, maybe with one exception, to defend Denmark and Greenland.
03:00Tell us about the exception.
03:01Well, the exception is Hungary.
03:03This has been the case over the past year.
03:07So this should come as no surprise.
03:08But I think we've found a way to work around this problem.
03:12So what about the other exception?
03:14I mean, I watched that video clip from FITO, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, who I believe was sitting right beside you.
03:19He was criticizing the summit, saying it was a waste of time.
03:22He was very critical of EU leadership as well.
03:24What did you say to him?
03:25Well, we can look at the glass half empty or we can look at the glass half full.
03:28What I can tell you is that the whole strategic autonomy debate is picking up steam.
03:33I was one of the first proponents that we need to invest more in our common defense and we need to sort out our competitiveness issues.
03:39But what did you say to him?
03:40What do you say to disruptive leaders who sit with you in that room for five hours?
03:44Well, I think we all have to be cordial and respectful.
03:47And this is also true when it comes to the, I would say, to the US-European relationship that was also reflected in the statements made by Antonin.
03:54Of course, I think we're all very frank in these discussions.
03:57People need to understand we're by ourselves or no advisors.
04:00No phones.
04:00No phones.
04:01In this case, also no conclusions, which makes it easier to be very open and occasionally quite blunt in expressing our views.
04:08And did you discuss Donald Trump's Board of Peace?
04:11We know that Hungary has joined.
04:12Bulgaria also joined.
04:14What was the consensus on it last night?
04:15I think the consensus is that what has been announced by Donald Trump goes way beyond the UN Security Council mandate.
04:22I think it is important that the US is involved in the reconstruction of Gaza.
04:26I don't think that we would have had a choice without the involvement of Donald Trump.
04:30But I think we also need to recognize that moving forward, what has been established is something in which most European countries cannot join.
04:39However, we would like to be part of an arrangement to address the Gaza issue.
04:45So if there's a way where we can work with the US, but only for Gaza and only for a limited amount of time, Greece certainly would be very, very happy to take a lead in finding a consensus to do that.
04:59But you don't want to join up?
05:00I don't think we can join what has been currently presented.
05:03But we need to work towards ensuring that there is a European presence when it comes to the future of Gaza.
05:09What about Mercosur?
05:10Of course, the Greek farmers are thrilled this week because of that vote in the European Parliament to send it to the Court of Justice.
05:15What is your view there?
05:16My view is very clear.
05:19I mean, there are more benefits than drawbacks when it comes to these big international trade agreements.
05:26The Commission President and the President of the Council are going to India.
05:30I'll be going to India in a couple of weeks.
05:33We need to establish trading relationships with other countries or other groups of countries.
05:40We are a medium-sized, open economy.
05:43We're the leaders in global shipping.
05:44We have every interest in ensuring a rules-based international order that favours free trade.
05:51I wanted to ask you also about Ukraine, of course, and President Zelensky's speech in Davos being very critical.
05:56But we will have to leave it there.
05:57Thank you so much, Prime Minister, for being with us here live on Euronews on Europe Today.
06:01Do come back very soon.
06:02I believe we can now try and head back to the EU summit there and bring in our Shona Murray,
06:07who we were having a little bit of technical difficulties earlier catching Shona Murray.
06:11Good morning, Shona.
06:12Lovely to have you with us.
06:13Just tell us, bring us up to speed on the mood from the journalist's perspective, of course,
06:17because the press spent the night on a packed floor trying to report on what exactly was going on inside the room.
06:22What was the mood?
06:26Well, Maeve, you know, I've been covering EU summit for a long time,
06:28even throughout the challenging moments of the Eurozone debt crisis.
06:31And I can say overall the mood, not really with journalists necessarily,
06:34but also with politicians, was one that was particularly despondent.
06:37Now, we know, obviously, that the issue of tariffs had been averted at the last minute,
06:43but the damage to the EU-US relationship has really been very long-lasting.
06:48Trust has been very much eroded.
06:50If you look at the language throughout the week,
06:52Bart Deweyver, the Belgian Prime Minister,
06:54using language saying that if Europe doesn't unify,
06:57it'll be a happy slave of Donald Trump.
06:59We also heard from Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, a NATO ally,
07:03saying that the world order is fading
07:05and that the might on right of the strongest is basically playing out
07:10and the weak must suffer.
07:11So it's within that context that we heard about how Europe really needs to move away,
07:16diversify away from the United States, become more independent.
07:19We heard from the Prime Minister there talking about strategic autonomy.
07:23And Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission,
07:26really made this point in her press conference.
07:28It was very clear in the discussion
07:30that we were successful in withstanding by being firm,
07:36but non-escalatory and, most importantly, very united.
07:41But there was also a discussion on the clarity with which we know
07:48that we have to work more and more for an independent Europe.
07:52This is not something which happened overnight.
07:54This is hard work.
07:56Commission President there, Ursula von der Leyen.
07:58And Shona, just what else did leaders there discuss and decide?
08:05Well, it was all very intertwined, Maeve,
08:07because really the idea of this summit was an extraordinary summit
08:10based on the actions and the language of Donald Trump.
08:12So the strategic autonomy piece was important.
08:15And then linking onto that was, of course, Mercosur,
08:17because we heard from the European Parliament during the week
08:19that they had sent the legalities of Mercosur
08:22to the European Court of Justice,
08:23which will, of course, delay its implementation.
08:25So European leaders decided to implement this in a provisional basis
08:29to get it going, saying that really the trade agreements now,
08:33I mean, Mercosur has 700 million people,
08:36that needs to be in place if Europe has any chance
08:38of being independent from the United States.
08:40And, of course, there was also a strong discussion
08:42on this board of peace that you mentioned there
08:44with the Greek Prime Minister.
08:46The EU has real concerns about the level of this
08:49and whether or not it's in contravention
08:51of the United Nations Charter.
08:52Maeve?
08:52OK, Shona Murray, thank you so much for that live update there
08:55from the red carpet there at the EU Council.
08:58Well, Ukraine was also discussed last night at that EU summit
09:01after President Zelensky's speech at the World Economic Forum
09:05in Davos yesterday.
09:07The Ukrainian president also held talks with Donald Trump.
09:09For more, we can cross over now to Euronews' correspondent,
09:12Sasha Vakilina, who's been reporting from Switzerland for us all week long.
09:17Good morning, Sasha.
09:18Just bring us up to speed, please, on Zelensky's speech in Davos.
09:22He was very critical of European allies.
09:24I say this is the first time we hear from Ukraine's president
09:30this kind of such a harsh criticism for Europe.
09:33This is something that Brussels is rather more used to hear from Washington,
09:37but not from Zelensky, also the country who wants to be the member of the European Union.
09:41He went on about how Europe is not ready to defend itself, first of all,
09:45and this is when he gave the example of Greenland.
09:47Zelensky also found a term for that, calling it the Greenland mode,
09:51and he said this is what Europe has to stop, it has to get out of the Greenland mode,
09:55when Europe, as he said, is waiting for somebody to do something one day.
10:00Let's take a listen.
10:02Europe needs to know how to defend itself.
10:08And if you send 40 or 40 soldiers to Greenland, what is that for?
10:17What message does it send?
10:19What's the message to Putin, to China?
10:24President Zelensky there comparing as well the EU to Groundhog Day,
10:28saying nothing had been done in a year.
10:30But meanwhile, Sasha, American, Ukrainian and Russian delegations
10:33will be heading to Abu Dhabi today for their first ever trilateral talks
10:37since the war began.
10:39What should we expect?
10:40This is indeed in itself a sign of a progress, May.
10:47We also know that Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff,
10:51he was already in Moscow, is in Moscow, and he met with Putin.
10:55Now, these meetings took place while President Trump was meeting President Zelensky here at Davos.
11:00So this is the next step for those trilateral talks that are starting today.
11:05Now, the tricky part is that after these talks between Putin and Witkoff,
11:11the Kremlin said that the problem remains for them,
11:15and the main obstacle is the territorial concessions.
11:17And this, of course, will be the hardest point for the teams to negotiate
11:22and to find some sort of an agreement.
11:24Indeed. Well, we'll keep a very, very close eye on that, Sasha Vakilina.
11:27Thank you so much for that live update on the last day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
11:33As I said, for more of Sasha's reporting on that meeting as well later on today,
11:36do visit euronews.com or download our app.
11:39But another man who took the main stage in Davos this week was the billionaire Elon Musk.
11:44The Tesla, an ex-owner, spent, though, most of his week trolling Ryanair
11:48and threatening to buy Europe's most successful airline.
11:51Jakob Janus takes it close.
11:54Come fly with me. Let's fly away.
11:57Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair boss, could have quoted Sinatra
12:01in response to Elon Musk calling him an utter idiot on X.
12:06The reason for this sudden affection?
12:08A fight over Musk's stalling Wi-Fi on board.
12:12In response, Ryanair boss launched a big idiot seat sale
12:16with cheap flights for Elon and all the other, quote, idiots, end quote.
12:21But away from the noise.
12:23How actually do their business models impact us?
12:27First, the environment.
12:29Ryanair's fleet of more than 600 planes
12:32emitted over 60 million tons of CO2 last year.
12:35Then again, data centers for X and Grok.ai are parts of an industry
12:40that consumes so many resources
12:42that in Ireland and the Netherlands
12:44they are threatening drinking supplies
12:46and triggering blackout alerts.
12:48So neither of them is exactly winning the Greta Thunberg Award.
12:53Then there are taxes
12:54and both X and Ryanair have Irish head offices.
12:58Ryanair hires 26,000 people
13:00and paid over 170 million euros in taxes last year.
13:05And X?
13:06After the recent layoffs,
13:07they have just over 100 staff left in Dublin.
13:11And thanks to reporting a massive loss,
13:13their tax bill was near zero.
13:17Finally, Ryanair claims
13:18they have a score of 90% satisfied customers.
13:22And to be fair, X users are also very satisfied.
13:25Or at least that's what the Russian bots tell me.
13:29And yes, both are ruthless,
13:32but one is an American eccentric billionaire
13:34and the other is, well, ours?
13:38And honestly, I just can't imagine flying to Mars for 16.99.
13:44So for that one, I'm voting with my legs,
13:47even if there is never any space for them on board.
13:50Yeah, I could be honest there
13:56with a dose of humour to help you digest
13:58what has been a very intense news cycle.
14:00But we've covered it all for you on euronews.com.
14:03So for more analysis and context
14:05on that EU summit that took place here in Brussels last night
14:08or, of course, on the World Economic Forum
14:11that closes today in Davos,
14:13do visit euronews.com
14:14or download, of course, our app.
14:16Thank you so much, though,
14:17for tuning in to Europe Today
14:18and to our interview with the Greek Prime Minister.
14:21For more as well, you can check out our social media.
14:23We've lots of clips as well that we share with you there.
14:26But for now, thank you so much for watching.
14:27Stay with us here, though, on euronews.
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