- 5 minutes ago
Escalation in the Middle East - Not Europe's war? MEPs go head-to-head in The Ring
In this new edition of The Ring, broadcast from the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs Riho Terras (EPP) and Özlem Demirel (The Left) debate Europe’s role in the ongoing war in the Middle East.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/03/25/escalation-in-the-middle-east-not-europes-war-meps-go-head-to-head-in-the-ring
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
In this new edition of The Ring, broadcast from the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs Riho Terras (EPP) and Özlem Demirel (The Left) debate Europe’s role in the ongoing war in the Middle East.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/03/25/escalation-in-the-middle-east-not-europes-war-meps-go-head-to-head-in-the-ring
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:07Hello there and welcome to The Ring, Eurie News' weekly debating show broadcasting from
00:13the European Parliament here in Brussels. On The Ring, elected members of the European
00:19Parliament go one-to-one on some of the biggest challenges facing the European Union today.
00:25With fire and fury all across the Middle East, today we're asking if the European Union should
00:31use its leverage to try to encourage President Donald Trump to stop what they say is not Europe's
00:38war. Luis Alberto has more. With the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran now entering its third week, Europe
00:47finds itself navigating an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape. Last week, EU leaders
00:54gathered in Brussels to discuss the situation in the Middle East, stressing the need for
00:58de-escalation, the protection of civilians and restraint in targeting critical infrastructure.
01:06Leaders also underline the need to keep the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane open to
01:11mitigate energy supply disruptions as much as possible. Following last week's summit,
01:16more and more EU leaders are following an approach rooted in modularism and de-escalation. Chancellor
01:22Merz, who initially showed understanding for the U.S. and Israel's strikes, is now distancing
01:27himself from the Trump administration's approach, as are many others. With European leaders choosing
01:33to stay largely on the sidelines of the conflict for now, what role should Europe take? And can
01:39it safeguard its economic interests at a time when consumers are already under pressure from
01:44high energy costs? The questions that we have for our contenders, let's meet them.
01:53Özlem Demirel, a German MEP from the Left Group. She's a member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and
01:59Security and Defense, a consistent critic of militarization and EU defense policy. She argues that increased
02:06arms spending fuels conflict rather than resolving it. In the context of the war in Iran, she said,
02:12Bombs fall, the stock markets rise, people die. Israel and the United States don't care about the
02:19people of Iran. Rio Terras, an Estonian army general and MEP from the Central-Right European
02:25People's Party. He is the Vice President of the Security and Defense Committee at the European
02:30Parliament. A cheerleader for defense spending, he has stated, we have talked about defense and
02:36strategic autonomy for years, yet decisions stall, investments and innovation lag.
02:41Before blaming others, Kaya Callas and other EU leaders should ask themselves what they have done
02:47to change this.
02:50Özlem Demirel and Rio Terras, welcome to The Ring. As regular viewers will know, the objective here
02:58on The Ring is to show people back home how debates here in the European Parliament actually function
03:04and how you sometimes and sometimes not reach compromises. Are you ready?
03:08Yes. So, first question, Rio Terras, do you support Trump and Israel's war in Iran?
03:13I think Ayatollah regime has violated human rights in Iran for 47 years and it needed to be done
03:24something and all the efforts of diplomacy did not work. But I am not sure the way it was launched
03:31today
03:31was the right way. I think launching a military operation, you need to know what the desired political
03:37end state is. And I cannot see the desired political end state today. I understand it could be the regime
03:44change, but you are not able to change the regime
03:47with only poorly military means. But the military means are necessary to force your ideas. And I think it should
03:58have been discussed
04:00with the allies beforehand also. These are the, that's why I don't see the current moment, the end state.
04:08What about yourself, Özlem?
04:09I am rejecting this war totally and I want to say that we know from the history that military means
04:17and military interventions
04:18and wars never brought democracy to this region. So I want this war to stop.
04:23And what would you have done then in that case to get rid of the regime?
04:28Look, my family has Kurdish roots. So it's not like this, that I'm supporting this regime in any way. I
04:36don't do it.
04:37And this regime is a brutal regime, oppressing his own people. And this regime has to gun. But the gun
04:47of this regime never could be an intervention from foreign forces.
04:52So we have to stop this war and to support the people of Iran to get a better future.
04:59And of course, the regime is still there. Mushtaba Khamenei is now the new supreme leader.
05:04And of course, the goal of Donald Trump in principle was to get rid of the regime. That goal has
05:10not been reached.
05:10Do you think President Trump has a plan here, Rio Terras?
05:13Well, I just said that I don't see the desired end state defined politically. But I think the plan is
05:19to change the regime.
05:20And if you have less regime people, if you kill them as many as possible, then it weakens the regime.
05:28If you force the national guard units of Iraqi guards to disappear, then it gives the possibility to the people.
05:40I think the mistake has been made that the attack did not take place before very large portion of the
05:48opposition were killed and executed recently before the war.
05:55And that the people are not there. But on response to how we can do it without military means, I
06:01don't think we will be able to discuss with Adolf Hitler the regime change or political election of somebody would
06:10not have help and did not work.
06:12It is history shows that in certain areas the military means are necessary. And nobody listens to somebody who does
06:21not have military means. Look at Europe. Europe is not at the table, not in Ukraine.
06:26And just before we go into Europe not being on the table, let's get them to respond to what you
06:29just heard.
06:30Look, I'm from Germany and I don't like it when people are comparing now our wars with the war of
06:36Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler attacked a lot of other countries. He started wars.
06:41This is not the case. This is not the case we have now by Iran. Iran didn't attack. Iran didn't
06:47attack anybody. And to be honest, this war from Israel and US is not about democracy.
06:52It's not about the people. It's not about autocracy. We know that these countries also are working together with a
06:59lot of autocrats in this region, also religious reactionary systems and regimes.
07:06So this is not the case. This is about for Israel to get a bigger Israel. It is about US
07:12control, important resources, important trade.
07:17And on Israel, let's talk about the real reasons of this war. And we have to reject it because this
07:23war has a lot of impacts of the people, firstly in Iran, who are dying, but also all over the
07:30world.
07:30So the Iranian regime did not have an influence on the people. You know, from history, you are a general,
07:35former general. You have been in Afghanistan.
07:37That Iran has spread terrorism around itself. It has financed the terrorism, financed Hezbollah, financed Hamas, which caused the people
07:47to die in this area.
07:49So Iran is launching war against people. You have been a former general in Afghanistan, right? How was the situation
07:56in Afghanistan after 20 years of war in Afghanistan?
07:59You said you wanted to free the women in Afghanistan. The situation of the women in Afghanistan after the war,
08:06you also were part of.
08:07They were free as we were there. They were free as we were there. The people I have seen women
08:15working on the computers in Afghanistan.
08:19What is the result of the war? Again, the strategic end state was not defined. I think that is the
08:23same problem today.
08:24But there is that issue of the collateral damage of Trump's war that, as we heard, Europe does not support.
08:29We've heard the Europeans say this is not our war.
08:32But yet Europe is sending millions to support Lebanon, whereas they have no say here, Oslam, in this war.
08:36To be honest, it's not acceptable. Europe was also silent when Israel was a war criminal and had a genocide
08:46on the Palestinian people.
08:48And my country, Germany, for example, talked about the cancer of Germany who was part of your party family, talked
08:56about the dirty work Israel is doing for us.
09:01And I want to ask, what is it about?
09:03And I want to ask, why is the European Union then so vocal when it comes to Ukraine's war, but
09:08not when it comes to this?
09:10Because Ukraine is in Europe. And that is where we have the biggest concern and the biggest threat.
09:17And I think this war in Iran takes the focus away from children dying today in Ukraine every day.
09:26But there's over one million displaced, internally displaced in Lebanon. The European Union is sending cash flows there for this
09:31humanitarian crisis.
09:32I understand that. But again, why is Europe not taken seriously? Because it does not have the military might to
09:39talk, to be taken seriously.
09:41And I think diplomacy has only its ways if it's supported by the strength, economical strength and military strength.
09:51Back to the war in Iran. European leaders said it's not their war, but it's, of course, impacting you and
09:55me, every one of us. What would you say to that?
09:57It's not the war of the European Union. And they are honest. They have to stop that the military bases
10:05in Europe can be used.
10:06Spain has shown us how it could work. And they have to stop their arm exports to Israel and to
10:13U.S.
10:14Yes. And it's interesting you mentioned Spain, because, of course, Spain or the Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez did speak
10:19out against this war.
10:21And Donald Trump, Rio Terras, responded by saying we're going to cut off trade with Spain.
10:25Do you think that's why other EU countries are a little bit hesitant to speak out?
10:29No, I don't think so. But I think Spain is violating the unity of European Union by not paying its
10:35own bill on the defense and now trying to split the unity of European Union.
10:40I understand that Trump only takes us seriously if we act together and he wants us to take by piece
10:49of piece.
10:49And that is exactly what Sanchez has achieved by acting alone.
10:55OK, we're getting just warmed up here, but it's time to take a very short break.
11:03Because now it's time for our viewers to get a real flavor of the Parliament chamber, where MEPs ask direct
11:09questions to each other.
11:10And sometimes, as you can see, it does get heated. Ladies first, Asim.
11:15OK, I want to hear from your side. What is your solution for this war?
11:20Does the European Union not have any instruments to stop this war? Or are you against stopping this war?
11:27If you mean the war in Iran, then I don't think Europe has today the instruments because we are not
11:32strong enough to sit at the table.
11:35We can try to use our diplomatic means, but nobody listens to us.
11:40That means that we need to work on our own capabilities, on our own strengths.
11:48And even the economy is not anymore the strengths of Europe because we are not unified enough.
11:54Now, your opportunity to ask a question now to Aslem.
11:58We have seen wars emerge around us. Europe has not launched any wars.
12:06Europe has not in the last, like, 70 years not been part to a war itself.
12:12But we see others attacking European countries around us.
12:15Do you think that Europe can solve these problems diplomatically? Or do we need military means to back up our
12:24diplomatic efforts?
12:25And if not, what is the other way?
12:28To be honest, yes, the European Union as the European Union didn't launch wars.
12:33But European member states were also in the past part of wars, like we saw in Afghanistan, like we saw
12:42in Iraq, like we saw in Libya.
12:44It was not, the UK is not anymore European Union, but it was also European countries.
12:50So it's not true that the European Union in the past was just standing for diplomacy and against wars in
12:56this world.
12:57So if we want to answer the times of wars, we have to go back and to stop about talking
13:03just about militarization.
13:05Do you know the definition of a dialogue?
13:08Yes, sure.
13:09Yeah, that means that it needs two parts to what who want to discuss to talk to each other.
13:13If one side wants to talk and the other one is not, and I have been experiencing myself trying to
13:19reach out to Russian chief of defense as I was chief of defense.
13:22And the response was why nobody wants to talk to us and not the dictator Putin, not chairman chief.
13:30They don't care.
13:31And as long as we are weak, we are not at the table.
13:35And the dialogue needs two sides.
13:38And if Russia understands only military means and they did not use.
13:43Maybe a reaction on them to that.
13:45I don't know what you mean with weak European Union is one of the huge or one of the biggest
13:51economic powers of the world.
13:53And also the European member states has a lot of military instruments and we are spending a lot of money
13:59for military needs.
14:01So it's like this. The facts are on the table.
14:04So don't tell just we are like this or we are like this.
14:08What is happening by now is that the European Union also decided like the U.S., like China, like other
14:15big powers in this world that they want to defend its own interests.
14:19And this means resources of the world, trade routes of the world by military means.
14:24And what this means is that people are dying, that the working class all over the world is paying the
14:30bill for it.
14:31And this is not acceptable. This is why I'm rejecting this military means.
14:35And I'm saying we have to find another way to protect lives, to protect our earth.
14:41There are certain things we cannot do yet that still responds to what we can or cannot do.
14:46So we need to invest commonly together to a drone defense because we have seen a new weapon developing a
14:56disruptive technology which has been used in Ukraine and kills people.
15:00We need, for example, to invest in this kind of technologies in order to make sure that our people are
15:06defended and they are not dying.
15:09Let me say clearly it's not a solution for nobody to prolong wars.
15:15And it's also like this that not just Putin said I don't want to negotiate.
15:19It was also like this that the Western countries long, long time said we had no possibilities to negotiate.
15:25We don't want to negotiate. And this was prolonging this war.
15:30And the result of this war is not good for the Ukrainian people.
15:33So let me say this. You are from the EPP and you are standing for a conservative politics.
15:40You are in the last weeks. Your group has really weakened the right of asylum in European Union systems.
15:49And it's like this that the war in Iran also has the result that people had to flee, that they
15:56become refugees and maybe they want to come here.
15:59What is your answer? Why are you supporting wars or not rejecting wars, not doing everything to stop wars and
16:05on the other side working against people who are affected by these wars and become refugees?
16:10What is your answer on that?
16:11May I start with saying EPP is not launching wars, is not causing wars.
16:16And the only thing EPP stands for is to defend people against the wars which are around us.
16:22Be it an Iran regime which has been killing, torturing people 47 years.
16:31Or be it Russia who has never listened to anybody who launched wars since 2008,
16:38whose political aims are, who wants to achieve its political aims by military means.
16:44And just on the potential refugee ways.
16:46Yeah, I'll come back to that. And so that is not what we want.
16:50And we want European people to live safely in Europe.
16:55But we are ready to take refugees.
16:58But we don't want to have illegal refugees.
17:01We don't want to have economical refugees.
17:03What is illegal refugees?
17:04We want to know who is living in Europe and who is not.
17:08And that's what we stand for.
17:10But nowadays we have deportations to Syria, for example, where the war is.
17:15We have deportations to Iran. We have deportations to Afghanistan.
17:19They are not deportations because it's about people who are illegally in Europe.
17:23And that is a debate for another day.
17:25But we have heard the views from our MEPs.
17:27And now I would like to bring in another argument.
17:33It is the voice of the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, that is Andrew Puzder.
17:39He spoke to me earlier this week on Europe Today, Euronews' morning show.
17:43And he encouraged members of the European Parliament here to ratify the Turnberry EU-U.S. trade deal,
17:48saying that it would be an economic malpractice not to pass this deal, that the U.S. is not an
17:54obstacle.
17:55Puzder also described it as a great deal for the United States and the European Union.
17:59So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on what the Ambassador Puzder said about this deal,
18:03the fact that the European Parliament should push ahead and ratify it.
18:07The European Parliament should defend the European people's interest.
18:11And therefore, the Commission has worked out the deal.
18:14It is not the ideal deal, but we have to find the minimum common denominator with the U.S. and
18:23find the ways.
18:24We have to deal with the U.S. We have to.
18:26And the current administration is not for Europe.
18:30The interest is not being European. They defend their people.
18:33So our task is to defend our people.
18:35And trade with the U.S. is needed, necessary and good for our businesses and people.
18:40Because just remember that deal triples tariffs on European goods while cutting duties on U.S. industrial goods down to
18:47zero.
18:47And of course, it was harshly criticized for months as too favorable to the Trump administration.
18:52What is your view here on what Andrew Puzder said to us earlier this week?
18:55I think we should have a clearer talk to the U.S.
18:58And if it's about defending the interests of the European people, we should have a clear politic that rejected what
19:05Donald Trump is by now doing.
19:06It should reject the war in Iran.
19:09Clearly, it should reject the politics of America, who is saying America first and dealing with a lot of wars.
19:15It's not just Iran. It's also Venezuela. It's also Cuba. It's also other countries who are now affected badly.
19:22And so we should have an own politics, which is really taking in mind what the people of Europe need.
19:28And the people of Europe needs especially social security systems.
19:33They need a cap for energy prices. They need affordable housing and stuff like this.
19:38And the European Union is not doing anything or not enough in this part.
19:42And we'll come back to that point on consumers in just one minute.
19:45But now it is time to take a very short break here on The Ring.
19:48But stay with us because we'll be back very soon with some more political punch from the European Parliament.
20:01Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show here in the European Parliament in Brussels.
20:07For this edition, I'm joined by MEPs Rio Terras and Oslim Demirel.
20:12And the idea here is to bring the European Parliament debate to your very sofa.
20:16This week, we're focusing on how the European Union and its leaders are reacting to the ongoing war in Iran.
20:22A war that's directly impacting me and you, whether you're based in Kenya, Kerala or Kerry.
20:27Now, we wanted to hear from you, so we actually took to the streets of Brussels to hear how this
20:32war is affecting your daily life.
20:35It has affected a lot of travel. I know that for sure.
20:38In the economy, in Greece, we have a lot of cancellations and it has impacted tourism as well.
20:44So there's definitely an economic impact in our country.
20:47I'm sure that everyone in the European Union will feel the impact.
20:52Everything, everything. Food, services, gas for sure.
20:57Probably also things like heating.
21:00I mean, it's energy. Everyone uses it, everyone needs it.
21:04And I find it pretty crazy that the decision of two countries to go to war against Iran has such
21:12an impact on pretty much everyone.
21:14Not anxious, but definitely will hit. But I already implement some energy saving measures, so I hope this won't hit
21:23me hard.
21:24So Rio Terra is there impacting everyone. Your reaction?
21:29Absolutely. Absolutely. And that only shows that Europe needs to become more independent from the energy sources.
21:35And I think we should go back to the nuclear energy, which gives us the autonomy if we need it.
21:42Would you agree with that?
21:43No, I don't think that the nuclear energy is an energy system for the future.
21:49But what we have to do is to build up the renewable energy systems.
21:54And the European Union has slept long, long time and forget to do this.
21:59And as we all know, nuclear takes years, right? It takes years.
22:02Well, there's the small modular reactors, but they're also just being tested out.
22:05But just back to measures for Europeans.
22:08Now, today, we've seen Pedro Sánchez, Spanish Prime Minister, propose a €5 billion package to help consumers.
22:15Is that a good idea, Rio Taras?
22:17To help in the difficult situation is a good idea.
22:21If it's not the populism before the elections, I think we need to make an economy stronger.
22:27And the economy depends on the energy, for example.
22:31So we need really to take very various packages.
22:36And I don't think that renewable energy is something bad.
22:40But as we saw this winter in Estonia, the renewable energy does not help us in the situation where there
22:48is no wind and no sun.
22:50And no batteries to restore it.
22:54So we need sources which give energy on that moment.
22:58So we need to have a diversified package of energy and focus on that to make European economy more competitive,
23:06especially in the times of war.
23:07Just one sentence about the social impacts and energy impacts of this war.
23:14We had it also by the war in Ukraine.
23:16We had it in the Corona pandemic.
23:18We had a situation that really some companies are earning a lot of money.
23:23And this is also by now the fact that oil companies are having real big profits by now because they
23:30are using this crisis every time.
23:32And the people are in a real bad situation.
23:36They have to decide if they buy food or if they fill their tank for the car to go to
23:41the work.
23:41So this is not acceptable.
23:43So I think it's not just a good idea to have packages to protect our people.
23:47It's necessary that we do it.
23:49And it's necessary that we cut the extra benefits, the extra profits from the companies.
23:56They have a lot of.
23:57Should the EU leaders be gathering and discussing this?
23:59You are not able to distribute the wealth if there's no wealth.
24:04So market economy says you can only distribute something which exists and to have a profit is nothing bad and
24:12evil.
24:12The profits and good tax profits are exactly what brings us ahead and gives our economy a stronger stand and
24:22the country's strongest situation.
24:23And I think the European Union need to gather together and find the solution for our, first of all, for
24:30our competitiveness in our current world.
24:33But the big companies have a lot of money and they are richer than they had been ever before.
24:38We have more money in the European Union than we had before.
24:40This is fact.
24:41What we have is that the middle stand, middle classes and the poor people are not anymore able to finance
24:48their life.
24:49And this is a problem.
24:50So we have to talk about the extra rich part of this region.
24:55We have a lot of millionaires, billionaires earning more money in this crisis.
25:00This is not acceptable.
25:01I'm sorry.
25:01I have lived in communism where the distribution of the wealth was done without having rich and poor.
25:08And that was evil.
25:09That was the worst time of my life.
25:11I don't want to come back.
25:12Look, you can you can just come with buzzwords like communism, stuff like this.
25:16Because the people of Europe, they are realizing that that what we are living in now is no perspective for
25:25them.
25:26It is rising.
25:27Living standard in Europe is the highest in the world.
25:28It is rising crisis and we need answers for the people.
25:31And you can't.
25:32You can't just put the real demands of the people away and just talking about communism.
25:37I'm not talking about communism.
25:39I'm talking about security for the people of Europe.
25:43So that's the views from our MEPs.
25:44We would love to hear as well your view here.
25:47Join our debate.
25:48The ring at your news.com.
25:50That is our email address.
25:51So please reach out.
25:52But it is now time to move on to our fifth and final range.
25:56Are you ready?
26:00So now it is time for something a little bit different.
26:03I'm going to be asking our MEPs a set of questions.
26:06And you only have the opportunity to answer with yes or no.
26:11So was it a good idea to kill the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei?
26:15Yes or no?
26:17I don't like him, but I don't think that it's illegal and it shouldn't be.
26:22Was it a good idea?
26:23Yes or no?
26:24Yes.
26:25Is the US still a friend to the European Union?
26:28Yes or no?
26:28Yes.
26:29The US people?
26:30Yes.
26:31Trump?
26:31No.
26:32Should the EU be more involved in this war?
26:34Yes or no?
26:35Clearly no.
26:37Yes.
26:38And should European countries increase defence spending?
26:40Yes or no?
26:41Yes.
26:42No.
26:43Should Europe focus on renewable energy?
26:46Yes or no?
26:47Yes.
26:48And manage a mix.
26:50And should NATO be involved if the conflict expands?
26:53Yes or no?
26:55No.
26:55No, I'm against NATO also.
26:58And just a question on European governments.
27:00Should European governments be subsidising energy costs today now to protect consumers?
27:04Yes or no?
27:05Yes.
27:06Yes.
27:06Yes.
27:06And is Iran a direct threat to European security?
27:10No.
27:11Yes.
27:12Yes.
27:12And it has always been.
27:13Okay.
27:14And have you agreed on anything that you've heard here?
27:19And what about you?
27:20Have you agreed?
27:21I agree that renewable energy is a part of the energy mix.
27:25Great.
27:25Well I think we've given our viewers a perfect flavour of how you actually interact right
27:29here in the parliament.
27:30So thank you so much to you both for being with us here.
27:33That does bring this edition of The Ring to an end.
27:35And as I said, The Ring at Euronews.com.
27:37That is our email address.
27:39Please reach out.
27:39Thank you so much again.
27:40Take care and see you soon on Euronews.
27:42Thank you so much.
Comments