- 2 days ago
Közel-keleti eszkaláció: Európa háborúja ez? EP-képviselők csapnak össze a The Ringben
The Ring Brüsszelből: Riho Terras és Özlem Demirel vitázik Európa szerepéről a közel-keleti háborúban
BŐVEBBEN : http://hu.euronews.com/2026/03/26/kozel-keleti-eszkalacio-europa-haboruja-ez-ep-kepviselok-csapnak-ossze-a-the-ringben
Iratkozzon fel: Az Euronews elérhető 12 nyelven
The Ring Brüsszelből: Riho Terras és Özlem Demirel vitázik Európa szerepéről a közel-keleti háborúban
BŐVEBBEN : http://hu.euronews.com/2026/03/26/kozel-keleti-eszkalacio-europa-haboruja-ez-ep-kepviselok-csapnak-ossze-a-the-ringben
Iratkozzon fel: Az Euronews elérhető 12 nyelven
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