Brando Benifei, chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the United States, spoke to Rudaw in Brussels, Belgium on November 14, 2024. Photo: Rudaw/screengrab
BRUSSELS, Belgium - As United States President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, the European Union needs to strengthen its unity and sovereignty, an EU official told Rudaw in an interview on Thursday.
“I think it's important that we keep strong relations with the US, but to do that, we need to have a strong Europe,” said Brando Benifei, chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the United States.
That strength is especially important in the area of defense. “I think we need to have a strong pillar of NATO in the EU, an EU pillar of NATO,” said Benifei.
In his previous term in office, Trump pushed members of the NATO military alliance to spend more on their militaries.
Benifei pointed out that there are proposals for collaborative investments in defense, but he cautioned that Trump is not likely to get European NATO members to increase their defense spending beyond two percent of GDP.
“I don't think Trump can get more by insisting. A few member states are already doing more than the two percent, but other member states, big member states, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, I don't think they can go in the direction that Trump is asking,” he said.
The following is the full interview with Brando Benifei:
Rudaw: Mr. Benifei, thank you so much for having us. Let's start with the next period or the second Trump administration after the New Year. How do you see the chances and challenges for the 27 countries in the EU?
Benifei: I think it will be very important that the European Union stays united because there will be discussions for sure. Think of the trade topics like what tariffs may be put on European goods and also decisions will be taken for sure about China. There is the issue of defense of the NATO topic. I think that it will be important to maintain a strong dialogue with the United Europe and that we work also with the Congress because the American Congress has its own powers. It's not only the president. So we need to work to try to maintain as much as possible the transatlantic link, but with a new understanding that the European Union needs to be stronger together, more sovereign, more able to do its part in the world in an independent way by maintaining a strong relation with the US but with a strong self-consciousness.
Mr. Benifei, there's lots of talk about who can begin or which European country is the key to starting the new relationship with the Trump administration. Some of them think that it's your country, that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni can be key to mediating between the EU and US. Do you believe that?
I don't agree so. We heard many names, in fact, not only Meloni but also [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban. Someone else said [French President Emmanuel] Macron. I don't think this is the way forward because this would lead to having some leaders that would go on their own and try maybe to find short-term advantages for their own country, but not looking at the interests of the European Union, which is today more important. Because if we do not act together, the US is too big, too strong to be a partner in a discussion. They will be problematic. Instead, we need the same weight to be on the table - on one hand, the American country, the United States of America, and on the other hand, the European Union. We can have then a good discussion, knowing each other, having an important weight in the global arena. I don't think we can do that by having one leader of a country that will lead the way. Instead we need to work together and use the European institutions. This is instead the occasion to give to the European level the leverage, the support to represent really a common view. If Europe doesn't find this common view, we will be in big trouble.
As you know, Mr. Benifei, the 27 countries of the EU cannot find a common view on lots of topics. Migration is one of them. Ukraine is sometimes one of them. Energy is among the topics that there is lots of discussion on. How could the EU have a common view regarding the US with the history of transatlantic relations, with the history of the NATO?
I think it's important that we keep strong relations with the US, but to do that, we need to have a strong Europe. This means that to overcome our differences, we need to put extra political effort to find agreements, to find compromises inside the EU first, and also we need to reform urgently the way we work because today we have on certain important topics still a way of deciding together that is difficult because we have the veto power of a single member state. Instead we need to accept a generalized majority vote on also topics like foreign policy and fiscal policy where we have been instead still having the need for unanimity of the member states to proceed, which has been a problem. So the parliament has already proposed at the end of the previous mandate a reform proposal to go in this direction. The Council of the European Union, the member states, they need to get that proposal and get it through and have a stronger, more united, more federal Europe to discuss on an equal basis with a federal state like the United States.
Could you name me some topics that could be an opportunity for the EU and the United States to work deeper with each other during the administration of Trump?
I am optimistic that we can make our case for better trade relations, to not have a trade war, but instead build a rules-based working order on trade, because it's in the interest of the US and it's in the interest of the EU. I think we can find an agreement on that. And also on defence, I think we need to have a strong pillar of NATO in the EU, an EU pillar of NATO, and the US should be our partners. And we need to find an agreement on that. We do not need to fight. I have to say that the first appointments by Trump are not going in a direction of, I think, big friction with Europe in these matters of defence, and this is good. But we need to see what will be the first steps, and we are eagerly waiting to start our work in the next months.
During the election campaign, this will be my last question, Trump said that two percent of GDP is not enough for NATO, we have to increase it, maybe there will be three percent . Do you believe that these demands will increase during the administration?
I think he might insist on that, but I think at the moment it's difficult to imagine that this could happen at European level with the present organization of the Union. Differently, if we strengthen our common efforts and, for example, we do more financing together for investments, including in defense, like the report from a previous Italian prime minister and former Central Bank President Mario Draghi is hinting, is proposing, then we can do together with a European fund more defence investment. For example, more also on cyber security, cyber resilience, that is extremely important, and reach a higher grade of GDP. But if we look at it how it is now, I think this is what we can do. I don't think Trump can get more by insisting. A few member states are already doing more than the two percent, but other member states, big member states, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, I don't think they can go in the direction that Trump is asking.
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