00:00Coming up, we'll be joined by the Irish politician and MEP Barry Andrews, a member of the centre-right
00:06Fianna Fáil party, the party of the Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Barry Andrews is a former
00:11government minister and a barrister by trade. Barry Andrews, welcome to Europe today. Thank
00:17you so much for joining us. Did you manage to watch the State of the Union speech? What did
00:21you think of it from a European lens? Well, it was two hours long. Apparently,
00:25it was the longest in recent history. So, no is the answer. I didn't see all of it,
00:30but I obviously watched extracts. I mean, I think the one that, part of it that everybody's
00:34very concerned about is Iran. And while he didn't really disengage or de-escalate, he did say
00:42that they are in negotiations. So, that's positive. That's something we're all very pleased to hear
00:46about. But he rambled a lot and there was a lot of fact-checkers kept very busy during
00:52the two hours about his claims about the economy and how tariffs are impacting the economy. And I
00:57think there's a lot of dispute about the actual impact of tariffs on the US economy.
01:02Tariffs is a very sensitive issue also for lawmakers here in Brussels. And we know the
01:06EU-US trade deal, it's on hold for now. But the European Commission is putting a lot of pressure
01:11on you, on the parliament, to pass it through. What's your view here?
01:14Well, we're not the only ones that are not proceeding with trade agreements with the US. India was supposed
01:21to be in Washington this week to finalise a trade agreement. Japan, Taiwan, there are many others
01:27that are now slow-walking effectively the trade agreements that they had with the United States.
01:33So, I think it's impossible for us to do this in circumstances where nobody is sure whether the
01:39new tariffs themselves are legal. They are going to be subject to legal scrutiny, I've no doubt about
01:46that. And we're not even sure whether or not there will be refunds for the former tariffs.
01:51So, there's so much uncertainty. And ultimately, it's consumers and businesses that pay the cost for
01:57this uncertainty. So, it's much more prudent, in my view, for us to wait until that legal certainty is provided.
02:02And just moving on to Ukraine, we saw yesterday Ursula von der Leyen showing up a little bit empty-handed
02:07because that €90 billion loan is on hold. She said there's other options, though. What other options?
02:13Look, there are multiple options available. There's intergovernmental approaches. There could be an
02:18enhanced cooperation approach. There could be something around a coalition of the willing.
02:23But ultimately, the sensitivity here, of course, as everybody knows, is that there's an election in
02:27Hungary in April. And the last thing the European Commission wants to do is to walk into the trap set
02:34by
02:34Orban. Orban would love to fight this election with Europe breathing down his neck, with forcing him
02:39strong-arming Orban to do something he really doesn't want to do. We can't get into that. So,
02:44we have to find a way that excludes Hungary. I'm not exactly sure what those options are going to be.
02:49But ultimately, we have to provide this €90 billion loan to Ukraine. By April, they will run out of
02:54money. So, it is absolutely existential for the future of Ukraine. Another issue, of course, EU membership
02:59for Ukraine. President Zelensky pushing for a date, but the Commission President saying we cannot give a date
03:04what's your view here? Should they join by 2027? Absolutely. I think it's one of the key
03:09motivations for Ukrainians to maintain their resilience. I was there in November. We went
03:14over to Kharkiv with a demining charity, Halo Trust. And, you know, everybody that visits is just blown
03:21away by how amazing they are, how resilient they are, how tough they are. But one of the things that
03:25really motivates, I find, is that there is a road, a pathway to accession in the near term. And so
03:31long as
03:32that is still there and very much a reality for Ukrainians, I think they will be able to continue
03:37to pursue the war against Russia. Okay. Barry Andrews, thank you so much for coming in to us
03:41this morning on being our guest here on Europe Today.
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