00:00Welcome back to Europe Today.
00:01It's great to be here, Maeve. Thanks for having me back.
00:03As I said, it's busy days for you. You're just back from the Munich Security Conference.
00:08Yes.
00:08I feel the atmosphere was a little bit better, a little bit nicer than last year,
00:12right, between the Europeans and the Americans. Did you get that feeling?
00:14Yes. Everybody was very positive about Secretary Rubio's speech. And I think it's
00:19the hallmark of a diplomat to be able to tell people things they need to hear and may not want
00:23to hear in a way they find acceptable. And I thought the European audience was very open to
00:30him and obviously got a standing ovation. So he did pretty well.
00:33Despite the fact that the fundamentals have not changed. I mean, his speech did say that the US
00:38is worried about European civilization. What is wrong with European civilization?
00:42Well, I think the problem is that with immigration, the impact of immigration on Europe,
00:51mass immigration, the impact of the climate policies on the economy and on GDP per capita,
00:59on the ability of people to really...
01:00But there is no mass immigration right now. The numbers have gone down. If you take a look at
01:04Frontex, the numbers have gone down of irregular migration. And now the EU is taking a tougher
01:08stance on asylum seekers, for example.
01:10I think it is. I actually think the EU's position on immigration has come a great distance towards the
01:17American position. I think we're more aligned than we were even just a year ago. But I think what
01:22Secretary Rubio was talking about was the impact of the past migration, the past mass migration,
01:28and the challenge, the civilizational challenge that that posed.
01:31But what are the facts on this?
01:33And it's still something that's cleaning up.
01:34What are the facts on this?
01:35Which facts?
01:36What are the facts? What is he worried about?
01:37Well, he's worried about the impact on issues such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech,
01:48from groups of people coming to make us share our values as Western civilization. They have
01:53different values, not that they're right or wrong, but they're different than ours. And that would be
01:58a challenge to our Western civilization and our ability to get along.
02:03The EU needs managed migration because, you know, unemployment is quite low right now. There's a
02:07major gap.
02:09There's a difference between managed migration and mass migration. And I think what we've seen
02:13over the past decade is just flows of people coming in onto the continent. And the reaction has not been
02:20positive. I think that you saw...
02:21But we do not have flows if you check the statistics. But let's just go back to Kaya Kallis' speech.
02:25You've seen rise of parties on the right based on the immigration issue. So there is concern in Europe
02:31But whether or not they're based on facts, they're arguments. I mean, they're superstars on social
02:35media. Let's just go back to Kaya Kallis' speech last week in Munich. She said that there's no
02:44European erasure. She said that the United States perhaps shouldn't be preaching to the Europeans
02:50given the state of press freedom in the United States. Do you feel, do you not see why she's getting
02:54upset?
02:56No, I don't. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure why she is upset. She's always been very supportive
03:01of the United States. She's always been very anti-Russia. I know that that's based on her
03:05Estonian roots and her personal history. But look, I think it's important that we address the issues
03:11of free speech. I think it's important that we address the issues of immigration. I think it's
03:15important that we address the issues of over-regulation that's destroying the economies across Europe.
03:20And you just listen to, you know, listen to Chancellor Merritt or to Bart de Vever, Prime
03:25Minister de Vever.
03:25And that issue is being addressed. We saw the Leaders' Summit there.
03:28So I think he agrees. I think he's saying this is, you know, we need to address these issues. And
03:34they're being raised. Let's say, I don't know that they're being addressed yet. They were making,
03:38Europe is making an effort to it.
03:39You know, it takes time, you know, 27 democracies working together. Just back to Marco Rubio's idea
03:44at the Munich Security Council, this idea of a political alignment between the EU and the United
03:49States. But how do you know that you'll make sure to get this if you're so mean to your allies,
03:54if you're saying such nasty things all the time?
03:56Well, I didn't think Rubio's speech was mean at all. I thought, I thought Secretary Rubio was very
04:00diplomatic. I think that, you know, he's interrupted three times by applause and got a standing ovation
04:04at the end. So it couldn't have been too insulting. I thought he did a great job. I think when
04:08he talked
04:09about how, how tied we are, how the World War One, World War Two demonstrated that we are
04:16inextricably linked, that we come from Europe, there's a, there's a real bond here. And I think
04:21he did everything he could to emphasize that.
04:23So why doesn't he come to Brussels? Why is he not visiting Brussels? He's over in Budapest now,
04:27showing his support to one head of state who's, who's posing now for elections to Viktor Orban.
04:32Well, these, Hungary and Slovakia, there's nothing wrong with him visiting those countries. I'm not
04:37sure why he didn't visit Brussels this trip. I'm sure he will visit Brussels at some point.
04:43But the Europeans feel of snubbed. Well, I can't answer that. I don't know why they would
04:47feel snubbed. They shouldn't feel snubbed. He's got a lot to do with Secretary of State. And I'm
04:52sure he's out there trying to meet the demands. When he gets to these events, I don't know if
04:56you've ever seen Secretary Rubio at these events, but he's treated like a rock star. I mean,
04:59everybody wants to meet with him. Well, that's why we'd love to welcome him here in Brussels.
05:02I'd love him to come. There's an open invitation. But is that not political interference,
05:07the fact that he's in Budapest right now, just ahead of a huge election?
05:11Well, I think he has every right to visit Budapest. I mean, Hungary is an ally of the
05:16United States. It's a member of the European Union. It's not like he's, you know, going and
05:20visiting countries that aren't affiliated with the EU. He's visiting EU member states. And I
05:25really don't see a problem with that.
05:27But Europeans are feeling a little bit upset as well about the mantra coming out of Washington
05:31right now. Did you see J.D. Vance? He got booed at the Winter Olympics ceremony.
05:35I didn't. I read different accounts of what happened when he walked out there. I know that
05:40he's not particularly popular because he raised some issues last time that when he spoke at the
05:45Munich Security Conference. And it's Europe. There was one group at the that I heard some talk at the
05:53at the Munich conference where they were saying Europe was like somebody who was asleep and had
05:58a snooze button on the alarm clock. Did you hear that? So they I've heard that many times.
06:01It's time to time to get up and hit the snooze button. Well, when when J.D. Vance and President
06:06Trump came along, it was time to stop hitting the snooze button on things like a five percent.
06:10You know, you've got to defend yourself the five percent of GDP commitment. There's so there are
06:14issues that they've raised in a way that they'd had to wake Europe up. And I it's a J.D.
06:20Vance is a
06:20very good guy. If you I mean, you'd like if you interviewed him, you'd like him very much.
06:24Well, hopefully I'll get to interview him sometime here on Europe today. But in the meantime,
06:27Ambassador, the Greenland issue seems put to bed for now. Should we expect
06:30more tariff threats coming from from D.C. soon? Because that really scared Europeans.
06:34I don't I think that what we should expect is that we'll have a free trade agreement or excuse me,
06:40a bit of the framework trade agreement will be approved by Parliament, hopefully the week of
06:45March 9th. Then we'll have a trilogue or we call the United States reconciliation, where we'll come up
06:51with a final bill and we'll have the critical minerals deal. We'll have the trade agreement.
06:55You know, we'll start moving forward. I think I think it's really time
07:00that we stop talking at each other and start speaking with each other. And I think both of
07:05these agreements, critical minerals and free trade can get us on a path to doing that. I think when
07:10we come to an agreement on Greenland, I think that will move things forward. But we need to get a
07:15more
07:16conciliatory approach to how we're dealing with issues. And I think as we do that going forward,
07:20we will find fewer and fewer of these disruptions.
07:24Okay. In the meantime, Ambassador Puster, thank you so much for being our guest once again here
07:27on Europe Today.
07:28Thanks, mate. My pleasure.
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