Trump’s return to US presidency pushes European leaders into a huddle

Trump’s promise during his election campaign of stopping the war in Ukraine ‘within hours’ is worrying the EU leaders.

European leaders have gathered in the shadow of Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States, calling for stronger action to defend themselves and back Ukraine.

The huddle of more than 40 leaders in Budapest on Thursday is a clear signal to the Republican president-elect, who has long been sceptical of the transatlantic alliance.

The summit of the European Political Community, set up after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was called after Trump made a dramatic comeback as the US president for a second term. During his election campaign, Trump had promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war “within hours”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre and Latvia Prime Minister Evika Silina, right, arrive for the European Political Community Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary [Petr Josek/AP]

Trump’s relationship with his European peers was rocky for much of his first term. Since then, he has said he would not defend European allies unless they spend more on their own defence, has expressed scepticism about the scale of US support for Ukraine, and has proposed tariffs on imports that would hurt European manufacturers.

His election is a new source of anxiety at a time when Europe is already grappling with weakness in its two biggest powers, Germany, whose government just broke apart, and France, where President Emmanuel Macron lost his party’s majority in parliament.

Addressing the gathering, Macron said Trump’s victory was a “historic” and “decisive moment indeed” for Europe. He told the European leaders they must not “delegate forever our security to America”.

“He was elected by the American people. He will defend the American interests,” Macron said. “The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest. It is the only question. It is our priority.”

Charles Michel, EU Council president, agreed with Macron’s statement and said the continent needed to become less reliant on the US for its affairs.

“We have to be more masters of our destiny,” he said. “Not because of Donald Trump or [US Vice President] Kamala Harris, but because of our children.”

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders spoke about the importance of continuing to support Ukraine against Russia, remarks clearly aimed as much at Trump as at the other Europeans in the hall.

“It is in all our interests that the autocrats of this world get a very clear message that there is not the right of might, that the rule of law is important,” she said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was “time to wake up from our geopolitical naivety and to realise that we need to commit additional resources in order to be able to address major challenges”.

“It is a [question of] competitiveness and a European defence,” he said.

NATO chief Mark Rutte, who was the Netherlands prime minister during Trump’s presidency between 2017 and 2021, said Trump was “extremely clear about what he wants”.

“He understands that you have to deal with each other to come to joint positions. And I think we can do that,” he said, adding, however, that he considered Russia a threat to the continent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warm words to say about Trump. However, he took issue with the incoming president’s assertion that Russia’s war with Ukraine could be ended in a day.

“If it is going to be very fast, it will be a loss for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Budapest, said Trump’s victory “set the tone for the discussion” at the European Political Community summit.

“With Trump saying during his campaign that he was going to move forward [and] have a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and end the war in Ukraine, people here are trying to figure out exactly what the Americans mean by ‘a deal with Putin'”, he said.

“Is it going to be forcing the Ukrainians to make more and more concessions, something which was brushed aside by the Ukrainians, by the Germans and by the French in particular? Generally speaking, the Europeans are concerned about what happens next.”

After the summit he hosted, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, “There was agreement that Europe should take more responsibility for securing peace and safety. To put this more bluntly, we cannot wait for the Americans to protect us.”

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Al Jazeera and news agencies