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Эскалация на Ближнем Востоке — не война Европы? Евродепутаты сходятся лоб в лоб в The Ring
В новом выпуске The Ring из Европарламента в Брюсселе депутаты Рихо Террас (ЕНП) и Озлем Демирель (Левые) обсуждают роль Европы в войне на Ближнем Востоке.
ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ : http://ru.euronews.com/2026/03/26/eskalaciya-na-blizhnem-vostoke-ne-vojna-evropy-evrodeputaty-shodyatsya-lob-v-lob-v-the-rin
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В новом выпуске The Ring из Европарламента в Брюсселе депутаты Рихо Террас (ЕНП) и Озлем Демирель (Левые) обсуждают роль Европы в войне на Ближнем Востоке.
ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ : http://ru.euronews.com/2026/03/26/eskalaciya-na-blizhnem-vostoke-ne-vojna-evropy-evrodeputaty-shodyatsya-lob-v-lob-v-the-rin
Подписывайтесь: Euronews можно смотреть на Dailymotion на 12 языках
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00:12Субтитры сделал DimaTorzok
00:30If the European Union should use its leverage to try to encourage President Donald Trump to stop what they say
00:37is not Europe's war.
00:38Luis Alberto has more.
00:42With the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran now entering its third week, Europe finds itself navigating an increasingly volatile geopolitical
00:50landscape.
00:53Last week, EU leaders gathered in Brussels to discuss the situation in the Middle East, stressing the need for de
00:59-escalation.
00:59The protection of civilians and restraint in targeting critical infrastructure.
01:05Leaders also underline the need to keep the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane open to mitigate energy supply disruptions
01:12as much as possible.
01:14Following last week's summit, more and more EU leaders are following an approach rooted in modularism and de-escalation.
01:21Chancellor Merz, who initially showed understanding for the U.S. and Israel's strikes, is now distancing himself from the Trump
01:28administration's approach, as are many others.
01:32With European leaders choosing to stay largely on the sidelines of the conflict for now, what role should Europe take?
01:38And can it safeguard its economic interests at a time when consumers are already under pressure from high energy costs?
01:48The questions that we have for our contenders, let's meet them.
01:53Özlem Demirel, a German MEP from the left group.
01:56She's a member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Security and Defense, a consistent critic of militarization and EU
02:03defense policy.
02:04She argues that increased arms spending fuels conflict rather than resolving it.
02:10In the context of the war in Iran, she said,
02:12Bombs fall, the stock markets rise, people die.
02:16Israel and the United States don't care about the people of Iran.
02:20Rio Terras, an Estonian army general and MEP from the Central-Right European People's Party.
02:26He is the vice president of the Security and Defense Committee at the European Parliament.
02:31A cheerleader for defense spending, he has stated,
02:34We have talked about defense and strategic autonomy for years.
02:38Yet decisions stall, investments and innovation lag.
02:42Before blaming others, Kaya Kalas and other EU leaders should ask themselves what they have done to change this.
02:50Özlem Demirel and Rio Terras, welcome to The Ring.
02:55As regular viewers will know, the objective here on The Ring is to show people back home
03:00how debates here in the European Parliament actually function
03:04and how you sometimes and sometimes not reach compromises.
03:07Are you ready?
03:08Yes.
03:09So, 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
03:22and it needed to be done something and all the efforts of diplomacy did not work.
03:28But I am not sure the way it was launched today was the right way.
03:32I think launching a military operation, you need to know what the desired political end state is.
03:38And I cannot see the desired political end state today.
03:42I understand it could be the regime change, but you are not able to change the regime with only poorly
03:49military means.
03:51But the military means are necessary to force your ideas.
03:56And I think it should have been discussed with the Allies beforehand also.
04:02These are the...
04:03That's why I don't see the current moment, the end state.
04:08What about yourself, Anselm?
04:09I'm rejecting this war totally and I want to say that we know from the history
04:15that military means and military interventions and wars never brought democracy to this region.
04:22So I want this war to stop.
04:24And what would you have done then in that case to get rid of the regime?
04:28Look, my family has Kurdish roots.
04:32So it's not like this that I'm supporting this regime in any way.
04:36I don't do it.
04:37And this regime is a brutal regime, oppressing his own people.
04:43And this regime has to gun.
04:45But the gun of 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.
05:01Moshaba 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.
05:09That goal has not been reached.
05:10Do you think President Trump has a plan here, Rio Terrace?
05:13Well, I just said that I don't see the desired end state defined politically.
05:18But I think the plan is to change the regime.
05:20And if you have less regime people, if you kill them as many as possible, then there is a weakens
05:27the 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 the people are not there.
05:57But in response to how we can do it without military means, I don't think we will be able to
06:03discuss with Adolf Hitler the regime change or political election of somebody would not have help and did not work.
06:12It is history shows that in certain areas the military means are necessary.
06:17And nobody listens to somebody who does not have military means.
06:22Look at Europe.
06:23Europe is not at the table.
06:24Not in Ukraine.
06:26And just before we go into Europe not being on the table, let's get Oslem 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.
06:37Adolf Hitler attacked a lot of other countries.
06:40He started wars.
06:41This is not the case we have now by Iran.
06:44Iran didn't attack.
06:46Iran didn't attack anybody.
06:47And to be honest, this war from Israel and U.S. is not about democracy.
06:52It's not about the people.
06:53It's not about autocracy.
06:55We know that these countries also are working together with a lot of autocrats in this region, also religious reactionary
07:04systems and regimes.
07:06So this is not the case.
07:08This is about for Israel to get a bigger Israel.
07:11It is about U.S. control, important resources, important trade routes.
07:18And on Israel, in fact.
07:19We talk about the real reasons of this war and we have to reject it because this war has a
07:24lot of impacts of the people, firstly in Iran, who are dying, but also all over the world.
07:30So the Iranian regime did not have an influence on the people.
07:33We know from history, you are a general, former general.
07:35You have been in Afghanistan.
07:37But Iran has spread terrorism around itself.
07:41It has financed the terrorism, financed Hezbollah, financed Hamas, which caused the people to die in this area.
07:49So Iran is launching war against people.
07:52You have been a former general in Afghanistan, right?
07:55How was the situation in Afghanistan after 20 years of war in Afghanistan?
07:59You said you wanted to free the women in Afghanistan.
08:03The situation of the women in Afghanistan after the war, you also were part of.
08:08They were free as we were there.
08:11They were free as we were there.
08:12The people I have seen, women working on the computers in Afghanistan.
08:19What is the result of the war?
08:20Again, the strategic end state was not defined.
08:23I think that is the same 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, Aslam, in this war.
08:37To be honest, it's not acceptable.
08:39Europe was also silent when Israel was a war criminal and had a genocide on the Palestinian people.
08:49And my country, Germany, for example, talked about, or the chancellor of Germany, who was part of your party family,
08:56talked about 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.
09:29The European Union is sending cash flows there for this humanitarian crisis.
09:32I understand that.
09:33But again, why is Europe not taken seriously?
09:37Because it does not have the military might to talk, 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.
09:52European leaders said it's not their war, but it's, of course, impacting you and me, every one of us.
09:56What would you say to that?
09:57It's not the war of the European Union, and they are honest.
10:01They have to stop that the military bases in Europe can be used.
10:06Spain has shown us how it could work.
10:09And they have to stop their arm exports to Israel and to the U.S.
10:14And it's interesting you mentioned Spain, because, of course, Spain, or the Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez, did speak out
10:19against 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.
10:30But I think Spain is violating the unity of the European Union by not paying its own bill on the
10:36defence and now trying to split the unity of the European Union.
10:40I understand that Trump only takes us seriously if we act together.
10:47And he wants us to take by piece of 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 flavour of the Parliament Chamber, where MEPs ask direct
11:09questions to each other.
11:10And sometimes, as you can see, it does get heated.
11:13Ladies first, Oslom.
11:15OK, I want to hear from your side.
11:17What is your solution for this war?
11:20Does the European Union not have any instruments to stop this war?
11:25Or are you against stopping this war?
11:26If you mean the war in Iran, then I don't think Europe has to do the instruments because we are
11:32not strong 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 Oslom.
11:58We have seen wars emerge around us.
12:04Europe 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?
12:19Or do we need military means to back up our diplomatic 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.
12:43It was not, 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.
13:09That 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?
13:24Nobody wants to talk to us.
13:26And not the dictator Putin, not Chairman Xi, they 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 diplomacy against Ukraine.
13:44Maybe a reaction on them to that.
13:45I don't know what you mean with weak.
13:48European Union is one of the huge or one of the biggest economic 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 means.
14:01So it's like this.
14:03The 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,
14:16that they want to defend its own interests, and this means resources of the world, trade routes of the world,
14:23by 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.
14:32This 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,
14:57which has been used in Ukraine and kills people.
14:59We 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.
15:24We don't want to negotiate.
15:26And this was prolonging this war.
15:30And the result of this war is not good for the Ukrainian people.
15:34So let me say this.
15:36You are from the EPP and you are standing for a conservative politics.
15:40You are in the last weeks.
15:42Your 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?
16:00Why are you supporting wars or not rejecting wars, not doing everything to stop wars, and on the other side
16:06working 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, and the only thing EPP stands
16:18for 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, or be it Russia who has never
16:33listened to anybody who launched wars since 2008, whose political aims are, who wants to achieve its political aims by
16:43military means.
16:44And just on the potential refugee ways.
16:47Yeah, yeah, I'll come back to that.
16:48And 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, but we don't want to have illegal refugees.
17:01We don't want to have economical refugees.
17:04We want to know who is living in Europe and who is not.
17:08And that's what we stand for.
17:09But nowadays we have deportations to Syria, for example, where the war is still not going to be.
17:15And that is, of course, we have deportations to Iran.
17:18We 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.
17:37That is Andrew Puzder.
17:39He spoke to me earlier this week on Europe Today, your news this 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,
17:52that the U.S. is not an obstacle.
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.
18:15It is not an ideal deal, but we have to find the minimum common denominator with the U.S.
18:23and find the ways.
18:24We have to deal with the U.S.
18:26We have to.
18:26And the current administration is not per Europe.
18:30The interest is not being European.
18:31They 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,
18:44while cutting duties on U.S. industrial goods down to zero.
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,
19:02we should have a clear politic that rejected what Donald 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 our own politics, which is really taking in mind what the people of Europe need.
19:28And the people of Europe need especially social security systems.
19:33They need a cap for energy prices.
19:35They 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.
19:49But 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 MEP's Rio Terrace and Oslim de Mirel.
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.
20:29So we actually took to the streets of Brussels to hear how this war is affecting your daily life.
20:35It has affected a lot of travel.
20:37I know that for sure.
20:38And the economy in Greece, we have a lot of cancellations.
20:42And 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.
20:53Food, services, gas for sure.
20:57Probably also things like heating.
21:00I mean, it's energy.
21:02Everyone uses it.
21:03Everyone 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.
21:18But I already implement some energy-saving measures.
21:22So I hope this won't hit me hard.
21:24So Rio Terras there, impacting everyone.
21:28Your reaction?
21:29Absolutely.
21:29Absolutely.
21:30And 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?
21:44No, 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 a long, long time and have forgotten to do this.
21:59And as we all know, nuclear takes years, right?
22:01It 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.
22:07Now, today, we've seen Pedro Sánchez, Spanish Prime Minister, propose a 5 billion euro package to help consumers.
22:15Is that a good idea, Rio Terras?
22:17To help in the difficult situation, this 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 and 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.
23:33And 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 benefits.
23:57Should EU leaders be gathering and discussing this necessity?
24:00You are not able to distribute the wealth if there is no wealth.
24:04So market economy says you can only distribute something which exists.
24:09And to have a profit is nothing bad and evil.
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.
24:32But 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 to that.
25:12Look, you can't just come with buzzwords like communism, stuff like this.
25:16I've lived there.
25:18You have not.
25:18The people of Europe, they are realizing that that what we are living in now is no perspective for them.
25:26It is rising war.
25:27Living standard Europe is the highest in the world.
25:29You 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.
25:38I'm not talking about communism.
25:39I'm talking about security for the people of Europe.
25:42So 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 yournews.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 round.
25:55Are you ready?
25:59So 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, yes.
26:31Trump, no.
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 defense spending?
26:40Yes or no?
26:41Yes.
26:42No.
26:43Should Europe focus on renewable energy, yes or no?
26:47Yes.
26:48And manage a mix.
26:50And should NATO be involved if the conflict expands, yes or no?
26:55No.
26:56No, I'm against NATO also.
26:58And just a question on European governments.
27:00Should European governments be subsidizing energy costs today now to protect consumers, yes or no?
27:05Yes.
27:06Yes.
27:06And is Iran a direct threat to European security?
27:10No.
27:11Yes, and 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 the renewable energy is a part of the energy mix.
27:25Great.
27:25Well, I think we've given our viewers a perfect flavor of how you actually interact right here 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.
27:35As I said, thering 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.
27:42We'll see you soon on Euronews.
27:42Thank you.
27:43Thank you.
27:48Thank you.
27:53Thank you.
27:53Thank you.
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