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Europe Today : entretien avec Fabrice Pothier et la Conférence de Munich sur la sécurité
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A 8 heures du matin, heure de Bruxelles, retrouvez le nouveau programme phare de la matinée d'Euronews. En 20 minutes seulement, nous vous présentons les principales nouvelles de la journée.
LIRE L’ARTICLE : http://fr.euronews.com/2026/02/16/europe-today-entretien-avec-fabrice-pothier-et-la-conference-de-munich-sur-la-securite
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00:05Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:58Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:02Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:03Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:12But was there really relief in Munich?
01:15Look, I think that's a great observation. It really captures the spirit of the past three days. Yes, that speech
01:21was more polite. It was certainly more diplomatic.
01:24There was this fundamental message of we share a history and the destinies are intertwined both the United States and
01:34the Europe and the European Union to some extent.
01:37But then he also suggested there needs to be this form of alignment that goes from the economy to trade,
01:43cultural, even spiritually. So yes, America can work with Europe, but it's a version of Europe that needs to be
01:50in alignment with the views of the U.S. to a large degree.
01:54With officials that I spoke, they said, look, there was relief because compared to last year, J.D. Vance, that
01:59was a wrecking ball. This year was much polite to that extent.
02:03But the structure that we've seen before from the U.S. government, that U.S. National Security Review, which talked
02:08about civilization and erasure, all of those points from saying we're in a sort of climate cult, the idea of
02:15wokeness, mass migration.
02:16This is not a minor issue, Marco Rubio told Marco Rubio, well, the Munich Security Conference, all of that was
02:21present there.
02:23At the same time, then you had the Europeans. Emmanuel Macron talked about this idea of a Europe that has
02:28been vilified and caricatured to the chancellor, Mertz, who said at this point, the leadership of the U.S. is
02:34being contested.
02:35It is not clear that the U.S. will lead the world. And then, of course, Kaya Callas, I was
02:40at a panel with her.
02:41I should note, Kaya Callas had a bit of a revival over the weekend because she was pushing back.
02:46She was really the voice that said, there's a number of things that we cannot agree.
02:50It's important that our destinies are intertwined, sure, but there are things we clearly don't see eye to eye.
02:54So she was very vocal to that extent. And there was a moment also in this panel, which hopefully we
03:00can put up on the screen.
03:01And I want to read to you, this was two, obviously, questions that we put about the sense of relief
03:06and the response to the Marco Rubio speech.
03:08And she said, contrary to what some may say, this woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure.
03:15In fact, people still want to join our club. And the waiting list is long.
03:20Meredith took three months for a European voice to finally say there is no civilizational erasure in Europe.
03:27One of the quotes that I get and one of the senses that I get from this conference, this is
03:31really the takeaway that I get from it,
03:33is that there are two competing versions now of the West, who leads it, what the values of this West
03:38are, and also who's going to be the face of it.
03:41And at this point, I'm not really sure that they are fully aligned.
03:44Briefly, Maria, on Zelensky, he was there. Ukraine had a big delegation at Munich. What did he achieve?
03:49Look, what did he achieve? This was a difficult Munich security conference for President Zelensky,
03:53because, again, Ukraine, perhaps because of this confusion and commotion around the U.S. and Europe, was not as dominant.
04:01And I've been to every edition as the past three years.
04:03He did say, however, we want to get this ceasefire, but it needs to happen before even we can go
04:09into serious negotiations.
04:10We need to see this form of ceasefire.
04:12And he also said, before we commit to a peace plan, we need to get those security guarantees.
04:16There was a question I put to him about EU membership, and he also said we have to be technically
04:21ready by 2027,
04:23because that is also a security guarantee. Let's take a look.
04:26Our membership in the EU is a sort of part of security guarantees.
04:33So we need it. This is the package for us.
04:36One doesn't work with another, because it's economical security guarantees.
04:59And that was, of course, a Ukrainian president.
05:02Two things are obvious at this point.
05:04One is they really want this date.
05:06They want to get it in a peace settlement, and the European Union is going to have to get very
05:10creative to this.
05:12But the two are increasingly intertwined.
05:14This peace deal and this date, they have become now one.
05:17Maria, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed on everything from the Munich Security Conference.
05:22And to discuss all of this further, I'm glad to say we're joined now by Fabrice Portier,
05:27the CEO of Rasmussen Global, who previously also served as director of policy planning for the NATO Alliance.
05:34Welcome, sir. Welcome. It's great to have you on the show this morning.
05:36Now, I'd like to get your take first on Rubio's Munich speech.
05:40Were you reassured when he spoke of an intertwined destiny for the US and Europe?
05:45Or does Europe still need to realise it cannot do it alone and needs a plan B for its security?
05:52I would say it's probably both.
05:54There was clearly a feeling of calm before the next tempest,
05:59where, obviously, Rubio cast a tone that was much more friendly
06:03than the previous US speaker at the previous MSC, J.D. Vance,
06:11who really kind of opened almost hostility against Europe.
06:15However, I think nobody was naive in thinking that this is not an olive branch,
06:21this is just a way to make the past few months a bit less painful.
06:27But clearly, the roll ahead, as I mentioned, this is can't be for the next tempest,
06:31because the roll ahead is still made of many differences.
06:35I think Ukraine is still lurking very much around the corner in terms of big US-Europe-Ukraine difference.
06:43And Greenland is not completely, in a way, solved.
06:46And I think the Danish prime minister was pretty clear about that.
06:49And do you think Greenland could be the next storm?
06:52Because we heard from Mette Friedrichsen, the Danish prime minister,
06:54over the weekend, suggesting Donald Trump is still very serious about buying the island.
06:59Do you agree with her that there's still a big risk there for the NATO alliance?
07:04Well, clearly, the problem is there's a mismatch between what the Danes,
07:09the Europeans are trying to do, which is to improve support to Greenland,
07:13both on the security and the economic front,
07:16which is a rational way of addressing possible vulnerabilities out there.
07:22And the US president just takes a very emotional, personal view,
07:27that he just wants to own that piece of estate.
07:30He's thinking like Manhattan real estate moguls.
07:35So he doesn't take a very rational approach to it.
07:38And that's the mismatch that I think the Danes are trying to manage with a diplomatic process.
07:44How long the diplomatic process is going to keep things together?
07:47This is the big question mark.
07:49I think we have to be ready for the next crisis.
07:52And clearly, the show of unity by the Europeans in addressing the US threat on Greenland
07:57worked once and may have to work another time.
08:00But we'll have to be willing to put even more skin in this game.
08:04You obviously shaped NATO policy for many years.
08:08Do you think there's a real crisis within the HQ here in Brussels?
08:12You know, we heard EU leaders von der Leyen talking about reactivating the EU's own defence clause over the weekend,
08:19seemingly because they cannot rely on NATO's Article 5.
08:21Is the NATO alliance, as we've known it for decades, now dead?
08:25It's gone.
08:26Well, I think it's not reactivating the EU mutual defence clause.
08:30It's making it real as a start because it's never been taken really seriously.
08:36But on your NATO question, I think we are entering the age of parallel universes
08:41where NATO is still going to be there.
08:43It's still a very much a valid option for the Europeans, both in terms of US extended nuclear deterrent,
08:51but also in terms of framework to plan and prevent the next war against Russia.
08:57However, clearly, what you hear in the corridors, but also in the main hallway,
09:02is that we need to start thinking about plan B's.
09:05And for that, you're going to have the European Union,
09:08but you also are going to have increasingly the development of coalitions,
09:13like the coalition of the willing for Ukraine,
09:16which maybe is going to be put with more substance,
09:19or the joint expeditionary force that is led by the UK.
09:22So I think you are going to have the multiplication of all these plan B's
09:26in response to the fact that, answering your question,
09:29I think the US has introduced a very significant doubt
09:32as to its commitment to Europe via NATO,
09:35and therefore NATO is still going to go on,
09:38but it's no longer the one and only plan A.
09:41Fabrice Potier, that's all we have time for this morning,
09:44but thank you so much for coming on and joining us and sharing your insights.
09:48Now, as we mentioned there, the president of the European Commission
09:51said in Munich over the weekend that the EU needs to bring its own mutual defence clause to life,
09:58saying, you change or you die.
10:00Our reporter, Jakob Yanis, has been scouring through the EU treaties
10:04in search of this little-known mutual defence clause.
10:10Did you know the EU has its own mutual defence clause?
10:14Your reporter didn't.
10:16But suddenly, it is the hottest topic in Europe.
10:19Just days ago, the head of NATO told Europe to
10:23keep dreaming if they think they can defend themselves without the US.
10:27But the EU Commission president fired back.
10:30Independent Europe just means let's develop our strength
10:33without constantly leaning on someone else.
10:35And part of her plan involves a little-known rule,
10:39the Article 42.7.
10:42So, what is it?
10:44It says if an EU country is attacked,
10:48all their members have an obligation to help.
10:50And on paper, the wording seems to be stronger
10:53than NATO's famous Article 5.
10:56It doesn't even require a unanimous vote to activate,
10:59but there is a catch.
11:01The EU is not a military alliance,
11:04and it lacks a unified command structure,
11:07and it leaves it up to each country to decide how to help,
11:11which does not automatically mean sending troops.
11:14And in fact, it has only been triggered once,
11:17after the 2015 Paris attacks.
11:21Plus, there is a trust gap.
11:22When Eastern European nations look for a true security shield,
11:27they look to NATO, not Brussels.
11:31But with Washington demanding Europe to take over its own conventional defense,
11:36and with growing doubts around the future of NATO,
11:39the clock is ticking.
11:40The EU is also wondering what happens if the US closes its nuclear umbrella over Europe,
11:48and building a fully independent European nuclear shield
11:51would cost billions of euros and take time.
11:55So, Europe has the treaty and the Article.
11:58Now it just must build the military strength to back it up.
12:07Jakob Yanis reporting there.
12:09Now, as we just heard,
12:11European leaders are reigniting the debate
12:14on a common European nuclear umbrella
12:17amid the continued threats from Russia
12:19and eroding trust in the US.
12:22Joining me in the studio to explain more
12:24is our defense reporter, Alice Tidy,
12:26also freshly back from Munich for us.
12:29Good morning.
12:30Alice, lots of Europeans talking about this over the weekend,
12:33the need for a common, homegrown European nuclear deterrence.
12:38Why now?
12:39Well, basically, the Europeans,
12:42although they've gone to great lengths over the past week
12:44to say that they believe that the US is fully committed to NATO,
12:47that they believe it is committed today, tomorrow,
12:49that it will be in 10 years, that it will be in 20 years,
12:51there are still a lot of concerns over that commitment.
12:55I mean, remember that last year,
12:57Washington cast doubt over its commitment to Article 5,
13:01so Europeans responded by more than doubling
13:02their spending target within the alliance.
13:04And yet, this year, we had Trump saying
13:07that he would forcefully seize Greenland.
13:09So that cast a lot of doubt over the very existence of NATO.
13:13And obviously, the US has also said that he wants to pull back,
13:17but there's a lot of unsaid yet over how that partial pullback would happen
13:21and whether or not this could include the nuclear deterrent, right?
13:24So over the weekend, indeed,
13:26we had French President Emmanuel Macron announcing
13:29that he had held strategic dialogue with Chancellor Mertz on this topic,
13:34as well as with other EU leaders.
13:36He didn't name those other EU leaders,
13:39but we know, for instance,
13:40that the Latvian PM, Evika Selina,
13:43said that she would be open to that discussion.
13:47We also had the Polish President yesterday
13:49telling Polish media that he wants his armed forces
13:54to look into the nuclear potential.
13:56And I also spoke with the Finnish Defense Minister,
14:00Antti Hakkinen, on the sidelines of the conference,
14:03who said, and I quote here,
14:04Inside NATO, it's clear that the US is ironclad,
14:08committed to nuclear deterrence.
14:10It's good news if the European nuclear states
14:13are investing to build up even stronger nuclear capabilities,
14:16but to compensate the US, that's not the question now.
14:19So Finland would be open,
14:21but again, this European deterrent
14:23would have to complement the US and not compensate it.
14:28So it's clearly an idea gaining traction among European leaders,
14:31but at the same time, Alice, it's still very, very divisive,
14:35this question of nuclear rearmament.
14:37And we heard from the Spanish Prime Minister,
14:39Pedro Sánchez, clearly voicing some reservations about this.
14:43Yes, he did.
14:44Sánchez was at the Munich conference
14:46and he made it clear he's not for nuclear rearmament.
14:49In fact, he said that the nuclear deterrence
14:52is far too costly, far too risky,
14:56is far too risky way of avoiding conflict.
14:58And he said that what it involves,
15:00the risks it involves,
15:01are actually more of a gamble
15:03than a guarantee for European security.
15:05Clearly still some divided opinions on that subject,
15:08but thank you so much for bringing us that update.
15:11Moving on now to something completely different.
15:13The Berlin Film Festival has only been running
15:16for a few days, yet already
15:18there is significant controversy
15:20over comments made by members of the jury.
15:23To explain, we can cross over now to Berlin,
15:25where our correspondent Laura Fleischmann
15:28is standing by for us, I believe.
15:30Laura, good morning.
15:32Bring us up to speed.
15:33What has been happening here?
15:37Well, at first, everything seemed to go smoothly
15:40at the Berlinale,
15:41but then a German journalist asked a question
15:44at a press conference with a jury of the festival.
15:47He accused them of what he called selective solidarity
15:51only with Iranians and Ukrainians,
15:54but not with Palestinians.
15:55And one of the festival's jurors then responded
15:58that there are many conflicts going on worldwide
16:01that don't get any attention at the festival either.
16:04But what really sparked controversy
16:06was the response by Wim Wenders.
16:08He is the president of the jury
16:10and a very famous German filmmaker.
16:12He said that the festival is a counterweight to politics,
16:17and this even led an Indian writer
16:19to pull out from the festival altogether.
16:21But let's hear what Wim Wenders actually said
16:24at the press conference.
16:25We have to stay out of politics
16:27because if we made movies
16:33that are dedicatedly political,
16:37we enter the field of politics,
16:39but we are the counterweight to politics.
16:41We are the opposite of politics.
16:44We have to do the work of people
16:46and not the work of politicians.
16:49Yes, and Laura, it's also true to say
16:52that these film festivals, including the Berlinale,
16:55are usually highly political,
16:57very politically charged.
16:59Why the sudden change in tone here?
17:04Indeed, the Berlinale is known
17:06as a highly political film festival,
17:08and it still is.
17:09There are many political statements
17:11being made on the red carpet,
17:13at press conferences.
17:14But the change in tone
17:15could be due to Germany's history,
17:18especially in regards to the Holocaust
17:20and in regards to World War II.
17:23Israel is a highly sensitive topic
17:25here in Germany,
17:25and this could be the reason
17:27why Wim Wenders is hesitant
17:29in regards to Palestine
17:30and in politics in general.
17:32But it could also be due to
17:34anti-Semitism being linked
17:36to some pro-Palestinian protests
17:38here in Germany.
17:39There are anti-Jewish chants,
17:41there are anti-Jewish
17:42and anti-Israel signs
17:44at some protests
17:44that aren't against the government,
17:46but against the whole country's existence.
17:49So this could be a reason
17:50why movie makers and actors
17:52don't want to be linked
17:53to this topic, perhaps.
17:55And also, there has been a spike
17:56in anti-Semitism
17:57as of recently here in Germany.
17:59And the festival's director,
18:02Trisha Tuttle,
18:02even came out
18:03and supported Wim Wenders
18:05after the controversy.
18:06She said that it is,
18:08as of recently,
18:09oftentimes expected
18:10of movie makers and actors
18:11to make political statements,
18:13but they are mainly
18:14at the film festival
18:15to promote their work,
18:17their movies.
18:18They want to talk about
18:19what they did.
18:20They don't want to talk
18:21about politics, perhaps,
18:22and it is their right
18:23of free speech
18:24to talk about
18:25whatever they please.
18:26They can decide
18:27to not talk about politics,
18:29and they can also decide
18:31to talk about them,
18:32but they get criticized
18:33either way.
18:34That's what Trisha Tuttle
18:35said after the controversy
18:37broke loose.
18:39Laura, thank you so much
18:40for that update
18:41on the controversy
18:42surrounding the Berlinale
18:44Film Festival in Berlin.
18:46But that's it
18:46from us for today.
18:48We'll be back
18:48at the same time,
18:49same place tomorrow.
18:51In the meantime,
18:52if you want to read
18:52more about the stories
18:53we covered on today's show
18:55and all the other
18:56breaking news from Europe,
18:58remember to stay up to date
18:59on our website,
19:01euronews.com.
19:02Thank you so much
19:03for tuning in,
19:04and we hope to see you soon
19:05here on Euronews.
19:35Euronews.
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