Two days after the American elections on November 5, the Twenty-Seven must meet in Budapest. Thursday, November 7, they will have a first exchange on the ballot during a dinner in the Hungarian capital, before meeting, the next day, for a summit of European heads of state and government in theory devoted to the competitiveness of their economy.
Among them, a very small minority wants Donald Trump to win. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, whose country holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) until the end of December and who receives his counterparts in this capacity, is his most fervent support. He called him on October 31 to wish him ” good luck “. “Fingers crossed”announced on the social network X, the nationalist leader, who planned to pop the champagne if the Republican candidate was elected. It is a safe bet that Slovakian Robert Fico would also welcome such an outcome.
As for the president of the Italian council, Giorgia Meloni, who chose transatlanticism when coming to power two years ago, but whose post-fascist party, Fratelli d’Italia, maintains friendly relations with Donald Trump’s teams, it remains ambiguous. However, it did not escape anyone’s attention that she warmly thanked the very Trumpist owner of X, Elon Musk – a “precious genius”she said – when he presented her with the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council on September 23. For the rest, the vast majority of European leaders, from Paris to Berlin via Madrid, Stockholm and Warsaw, would prefer that Democrat Kamala Harris be elected.
Budapest, “except Orban and Fico, Europeans will have to react in the most orderly manner possible”summarizes a European diplomat. Between now and the European Council scheduled for Brussels in December, they will have to clarify their line and the way in which they intend to react to possible decisions of the next American president, who will not take office until January.
« America First »
They know well that, whoever it is, Washington looks less and less towards the Old Continent. On the economic front, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump defend the choice of “America First” and neither is ready to make concessions to the Europeans. Especially since the American trade deficit with the EU remains high and Washington is obsessed with its economic fight against Beijing. On the security front, Barack Obama already, when he was president, asked the Twenty-Seven to take their destiny into their own hands by increasing their spending on defense, and none of his successors has since made another speech.
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