00:00We are joined by Rino Teres. He is an MEP from the European People's Party, but also a very long history and personal history in the army in Estonia.
00:10Sir, first of all, I want to ask you, going into the summit on Thursday, there's a lot of ideas floated.
00:16Join debt, less bureaucracy, a stronger single market, all of this in the name of defense and security.
00:21Do you have any hopes that we get to a real breakthrough?
00:24Well, I still have hope in Europe and I hope that European leaders understand that we are at the current moment in the situation where only Europe can deal with the European security and the rest is assured by the others.
00:40And when you hear things like euro bonds, joint debt, we all go into the market as Europeans and we tap markets for more debt to be able to pay for defense.
00:47Is that something that you go, yeah, ultimately there's no other option?
00:51No, I'm not very, very fond of loans and I should admit that countries should find their own resources to increase their defense spendages and not do it together.
01:02I want to talk about the trip that you took to the United States.
01:04But before that, when you think of the idea of a pragmatic federal Europe, do you like that?
01:09Is Europe a federation? Should it be a federation?
01:11Well, I don't think we need to discuss it today because we see that there is a new chance that the Lisbon Treaty will be changed.
01:18So we need to concentrate on things which we can change and which we can do.
01:22And that is one thing we need to invest more in defense separately, every country, but together also.
01:28And you were in the United States on a diplomatic mission and a trip.
01:33I believe you also attended an event which President Trump also was in attendance.
01:38Did they call you weak, decaying, your face in civilizational erasure?
01:42Did they say that to your face or is there a lot of theater built in the language?
01:46There was a lot of theater and the whole event was pretty crazy, but the message there was very clear.
01:53Everything they say, they mean it.
01:55And they mean that they say that they are dealing with their own hemisphere and what is happening in Europe should be dealt by European countries.
02:04The message is Europe is the second richest economy of the world, which means Europe can do if they want.
02:10And I agree with them. I mean, Europe can do more.
02:12But help me understand, when you say that they mean what they say and they say what they mean, what does that actually mean?
02:19Is it Europe now takes care of its security?
02:22Ukraine, it's a business for Europe to deal with.
02:24You have to find a peace deal.
02:26What's actually at stake?
02:27Well, what they say is that the U.S. has paid too long and too much.
02:3175% of the NATO funding has been paid by the United States.
02:38They think it's unfair.
02:39They want to see deeds, not words.
02:42And what they say, yes, the summit said that the NATO countries are ready to spend 3.5% on defense and 5% altogether with the resilience funds.
02:52But they don't see real actions.
02:55They see they always mentioned Spain, etc., who are not really paying their part.
03:01And they say European countries need to pay.
03:04It was, of course, very easy to be an Estonian there because Estonian government has allocated 5.4% on GDP on defense.
03:11So everywhere where I went, they said, we are with you.
03:14We are with you.
03:14We are with the Baltic countries.
03:16But we want to see that other big European countries start to pay also their part.
03:22You know, to be clear, to some extent, the Spanish, what they say is that 5% NATO was totally random, only created to appease Trump.
03:30And that really NATO has always been measured in capabilities.
03:33Obviously, that is the counter argument.
03:35But I want to ask you about Greenland.
03:37Did that come up in any conversation?
03:39Is it bluff ultimately?
03:41Has that question been sealed?
03:42Well, I guess that question has been sealed.
03:45They understand that the effort to take over Greenland was not a sane one.
03:53People in the Congress said that this is not going to happen.
03:56But they understand also that Greenland is not defended enough, that we have to invest as a NATO more to Greenland's defense.
04:03What about when it comes to Russia?
04:05Obviously, the criticism has been that the deal that was initially placed on the table was pro-Russia.
04:10And it was not a good deal for Ukraine.
04:12What did you get out of those conversations?
04:14What's the state of mind, the zeitgeist, when it comes to a potential peace deal?
04:18Well, the President Trump and all his administration thinks that this war is something which happened because Obama and Biden allowed it to happen.
04:28So it's their war.
04:29So not Putin.
04:30They want to have a peace, but they don't feel that it has something to do with them.
04:36It's, of course, Putin, but they say that that is the presidents of the U.S. who allowed that to happen.
04:42I'm not sure whether that is the case.
04:45Rather not.
04:46But still, they think that to end the peace, end the war in Ukraine is something Europe has to deal with.
04:54Very briefly, do you trust them?
04:56You had meetings with them.
04:57Did you come out of it thinking, OK, we can work with them?
04:59They're not very polite, but we can work with them.
05:01So I trust that NATO still exists and that there's still all discussions with the congressmen and senators assured me that they are still part of NATO, but they want us to do more.
05:13Well, thank you so much.
05:15Of course, that has been now the fundamental question for a few weeks, months now, since President Trump returned to the White House.
05:21What is the value of Article 5 if the U.S. is not committed to NATO?
05:25Of course, Maeve, that is it for us on day one here at the European Parliament, but more to come from today and tomorrow.
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