The Fort Worth Press - Europe seeks footing as Trump storms back to power

USD -
AED 3.673001
AFN 68.129336
ALL 91.668649
AMD 386.64471
ANG 1.800607
AOA 912.552774
ARS 992.7315
AUD 1.512974
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.68728
BAM 1.824806
BBD 2.01727
BDT 119.396719
BGN 1.82332
BHD 0.376803
BIF 2948.380024
BMD 1
BND 1.334422
BOB 6.903437
BRL 5.679802
BSD 0.999072
BTN 84.541209
BWP 13.465136
BYN 3.269625
BYR 19600
BZD 2.013911
CAD 1.390085
CDF 2868.000117
CHF 0.875795
CLF 0.034916
CLP 963.440261
CNY 7.178297
CNH 7.119295
COP 4413
CRC 512.215261
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 102.879775
CZK 23.617036
DJF 177.916486
DKK 6.949103
DOP 60.187626
DZD 133.748957
EGP 49.234599
ERN 15
ETB 119.896903
EUR 0.93175
FJD 2.24975
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.77461
GEL 2.725027
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.315772
GIP 0.765169
GMD 71.496316
GNF 8616.466922
GTQ 7.710502
GYD 209.034461
HKD 7.77415
HNL 25.201413
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.453603
HUF 381.813994
IDR 15763
ILS 3.738025
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.2419
IQD 1308.807957
IRR 42104.999919
ISK 138.179756
JEP 0.765169
JMD 158.265729
JOD 0.709198
JPY 154.460342
KES 128.890324
KGS 86.197176
KHR 4060.515868
KMF 458.624958
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1397.20406
KWD 0.30685
KYD 0.832606
KZT 492.558899
LAK 21815.535475
LBP 89469.1665
LKR 292.534556
LRD 191.335016
LSL 17.764985
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.841411
MAD 9.873156
MDL 17.869089
MGA 4647.300582
MKD 57.483544
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.000448
MRU 39.504756
MUR 46.519746
MVR 15.401691
MWK 1732.404682
MXN 20.156615
MYR 4.414501
MZN 63.904979
NAD 17.764985
NGN 1676.180349
NIO 36.770777
NOK 11.053025
NPR 135.262149
NZD 1.674695
OMR 0.385019
PAB 0.999081
PEN 3.769622
PGK 4.0092
PHP 58.762502
PKR 277.60178
PLN 4.055634
PYG 7767.343568
QAR 3.642895
RON 4.635695
RSD 109.030958
RUB 97.227779
RWF 1356.776652
SAR 3.756718
SBD 8.333912
SCR 13.608046
SDG 601.49797
SEK 10.84114
SGD 1.3314
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.701804
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 570.999389
SRD 34.833986
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.74218
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.755261
THB 34.353499
TJS 10.640567
TMT 3.51
TND 3.130665
TOP 2.342095
TRY 34.1942
TTD 6.774553
TWD 32.270052
TZS 2725.000015
UAH 41.421807
UGX 3677.043437
UYU 41.575503
UZS 12778.682292
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 43.727292
VND 25400
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 612.011513
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.74855
XOF 612.017223
XPF 111.272317
YER 249.824961
ZAR 17.62485
ZMK 9001.205905
ZMW 27.076073
ZWL 321.999592
  • RIO

    -0.1700

    65.33

    -0.26%

  • CMSC

    -0.1700

    24.51

    -0.69%

  • SCS

    0.7400

    13.06

    +5.67%

  • NGG

    -1.3500

    64.12

    -2.11%

  • CMSD

    -0.1900

    24.85

    -0.76%

  • RBGPF

    63.1700

    63.17

    +100%

  • BCC

    3.2700

    141.76

    +2.31%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.64

    +0.51%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.25

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    -0.1000

    28.74

    -0.35%

  • GSK

    -1.1200

    35.9

    -3.12%

  • RYCEF

    0.0800

    7.38

    +1.08%

  • RELX

    -0.2000

    47.71

    -0.42%

  • VOD

    -0.1000

    9.31

    -1.07%

  • AZN

    -2.4200

    63.85

    -3.79%

  • BP

    0.2000

    30.16

    +0.66%

Europe seeks footing as Trump storms back to power
Europe seeks footing as Trump storms back to power / Photo: © AFP

Europe seeks footing as Trump storms back to power

European leaders converge on Budapest Thursday for two days of high-level talks that will seek to rise to the challenges posed by Donald Trump's return to the White House -- but also risk exposing the continent's fault lines.

Text size:

The leaders of the European Union will be joined by others from the United Kingdom to Turkey, as well as NATO chief Mark Rutte and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, for Thursday's meeting of the European Political Community.

On the agenda: Europe's security challenges, chief among them Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as conflict in the Middle East, migration, global trade and economic security -- issues all thrown into sharp relief by the prospect of a disruptive second Trump presidency.

"The Europeans really have a knife at their throat," said political analyst Sebastien Maillard, of the Jacques Delors Institute. "The election result forces the EU to open its eyes. Maybe it's in situations like these that things can actually happen."

Most urgent among the threats posed by Trump's return are the fear he could upend European security and pull the plug on support for Ukraine, while simultaneously unleashing a trade war with steep tariffs on European goods.

Thursday's talks lead immediately into an EU leaders' summit on Friday focused on addressing the risk of Europe's economy falling dangerously behind major rivals the United States and China -- highlighted in a key report by former Italian leader Mario Draghi.

But whether the continent's leaders are ready to come together around common priorities -- such as vitally needed new funding tools for defence and economic innovation, both seen as critical to ensuring European sovereignty -- remains to be seen.

"I don't think they really prepared for this," said Guntram Wolff of the Bruegel think tank. "There is no fully discussed plan on what to do now -- at the EU level, but also at the Franco-German level."

Powerhouse Germany is in the throes of a standoff that has torpedoed the coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while in France President Emmanuel Macron is limping into the final years of his presidency weakened by a protracted political crisis at home.

"Without those two, the rest will find it extremely difficult to really advance on anything," Wolff predicted.

- 'Make Europe Great Again' -

Add the fact this week's meetings will be hosted by Hungary's hard-right leader Viktor Orban -- a Trump ally who enthusiastically cheered his re-election, as did Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- and the chances of a united European message towards the United States look ever slimmer.

The highest-profile among a rising cohort of nationalist European politicians friendly to Trump, Orban even styled the motto for the Hungarian EU presidency -- "Make Europe Great Again" -- on Trump's rallying cry.

On paper, a leaders' dinner on Thursday will be devoted to the issue of transatlantic relations.

"There could be a kind of anodyne statement of congratulations, on willingness to work with the new administration," predicted Ian Lesser, vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank.

Beyond that, he said, "it will be very difficult for European leaders to produce a coherent reaction."

Instead, Lesser expected there to be a "considerable divergence of view" on display among the leaders in Budapest -- perhaps presaging the shape of things to come when it comes to Europe-US relations.

Although American presidents are "going to have to talk to France and Germany," he noted Trump feels more "affinity" with the likes of Orban or Slovakia's Robert Fico -- who has rallied behind his vow to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, even if it implies tough concessions from Kyiv.

And once in power, he expects a new Trump administration will have "every incentive... to engage very closely with leaders they feel are congenial and to hold at arm's length those that they don't value in the same way."

A.Maldonado--TFWP