Europe Today: Zelenskyy in Brussels as Kyiv looks to Europe amid tension with US

Good morning. Yes, it's Friday, October 16th. You're watching Euronews and this is Europe Today. Coming up, EU leaders have refused to budge on the bloc's next long-term budget and openly cast doubt on whether a deal can be sealed by the end of the year. A slippage that would mean significant delays and a collision with a string of national elections. Until now, capitals were committed to reaching a final agreement by December. But at yesterday's summit in Brussels, where talks dragged on longer than expected, a growing number of governments was not ready to be hurried. Today, the summit continues with, first and foremost, Ukraine on the agenda. Bulgarian Prime Minister Radev stunned summit participants by backing the controversial diesel supply deal agreed between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin in defiance of Western sanctions. His comments put Radev at odds with his fellow EU leaders, who have strongly condemned the deal as risky, dangerous and misguided. To make it happen, the U.S. has eased sanctions on imports of Russian diesel until April 2027. The deal was also lambasted by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. And the U.S. military has drawn up options for renewed strikes on Iran that include the use of one of the biggest non-nuclear bombs in its arsenal. According to news reports, the plans involve the possible use of a massive air blast bomb nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs. The 22,000-pound weapon is designed to affect surface targets over a wide area and has so far not been deployed by the U.S. inside Iran. Tehran is reportedly strengthening its defenses around sensitive energy and nuclear sites in preparation for a potential resumption of attacks. Welcome to the program, I'm Stefan Grobe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Brussels for a crucial EU summit, with relations between Kiev and Washington under growing strain and uncertainty mounting over future American military support. Ukraine is looking to its European partners for greater security commitments, more military assistance, and progress towards EU membership. But can Europe really fill the gap if Washington steps back? Our correspondent, Sasha Vakulina, is following the summit in Brussels and has been speaking exclusively to Zelensky's deputy chief of staff. Good morning, Sasha. So, with tensions between Kiev and Washington escalating, how seriously is Ukraine now looking at reducing its dependence on American military equipment? This is a very important thing for Ukraine. And, you know, it would be it's impossible to explain how much it is important for Kyiv this day, specifically with the recent reports, media reports regarding the fact that the United States is threatening to cut the intel for the Ukrainian military or the recent disruptions in Starlink's military version, Starshield for Ukrainian military. So this is very important. And these are the two also crucial aspects that are this is where Ukraine is trying to find replacements, to find European replacements and to take the leading role in developing those. And this is one of the things that I discussed exclusively with Ihor Zhovko, who is the deputy head of the office of President Zelensky. He said the process is both when it comes to the air defense equivalent for to shoot down Russia's ballistic missiles and the European equivalent of Starlink. Not only the discussions are already underway, Stefan, but the progress and there is, you know, the work is also already underway between the European and Ukrainian companies. Let's take a listen. with the summit of the leaders of the countries participating in Project Freya companies are now in direct talks with one another we need a European equivalent of the existing air defense system Ukraine is ready to play its part and European countries are interested in this cooperation the same applies to Starlink we and by that i mean european countries need to have our own equivalent system discussions are also underway on this although we're not going to disclose the There are two specific initiatives launched by Ukraine, and Ukraine intends to take the lead in both. First and foremost, because Ukraine needs them. But they are, of course, equally important for other European countries. We have a clear timetable and deadlines. As you know, the President is constantly pushing to accelerate this process. I won't give specific dates or deadlines, but I can say that it will happen much sooner than the 10 or 15 years some are talking about, and even sooner than five years. But can Europe realistically provide Ukraine with the security guarantees it needs without the United States? Only until a certain extent, let's be very honest about it. Now, Zelensky outlined the three essential pillars when it comes to European help. This is sustained financial support for Ukraine's military joint european defense production and clear commitment to ukraine's eventual eu membership now he also spoke a lot about the fact how important the european security guarantees are and how they they are indeed the foundation and base for any sort of a settlement when it comes to russia's invasion of ukraine but he did admit that you know they still need and they depend crucially on the u.s backing let's take a listen we have always maintained that European Security Guarantees must form the foundation of Ukraine's security. This involves a range of measures, including military and financial support for our armed forces. After all, the cornerstone of Ukraine's Security Guarantees is a strong and capable military, but that military must also have adequate financial backing. This will be one of the issues discussed at today's European Council Summit, and the President will address it in considerable detail. Another pillar of our Security Guarantees is joint defence production. Ukraine is already pushing other countries to significantly accelerate their military production. The third pillar is Ukraine's membership of the European Union. Without clear commitment that Ukraine will become an EU member, we cannot speak of comprehensive security guarantees. So European security guarantees are fundamental, but they cannot, of course, exist without the support of the United States. And Sasha, there is this morning this meeting between Zelensky and the Hungarian Prime Minister. And we'll talk about that in a moment. Is this the beginning of a new friendship between both countries? Well, certainly, I think both Kyiv and Budapest hope that this is a reset in their diplomatic relationship. And when I spoke to Zsóka about it, he also revealed exclusively for Euronews that Zelensky was indeed invited and might come to Budapest next week. He did stop short of confirming whether President Zelensky is going to go to Hungary. He said that the invitation is indeed there and that Kyiv also invited Magyar to come to Kyiv. Let's take a listen to this. He has always been a very welcome guest in Kyiv, and we would certainly welcome such a meeting in the Ukrainian capital. Other locations in Ukraine are also an option. Our expectations are very positive. We are grateful to Hungary for its support in opening the EU accession negotiating clusters. As we know, opening each cluster requires the agreement of every member state, and Hungary is currently providing that support to Ukraine. We have opened four clusters. two still remaining, we are confident that Hungary's position will continue to be as constructive as it has been so far. At today's meeting with Magyar, we certainly expect to discuss European integration. But there is much more to our relationship than that. Ukraine and Hungary are neighbouring countries. Well, we have received an invitation. On the 23rd of October, an event will be held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. We all remember this important historical event, And the president of Ukraine has received an invitation to attend. All right, Sasha, thank you very much. Probably the biggest nemesis of Zelensky in the EU Council used to be Hungary's Viktor Orban. Remember him? Well, now that he's gone, Ukraine and Hungary are starting a timid reset. The first visible proof of it can be seen in Brussels today. So let's cross to the European Council, where our Hungary correspondent Sándor Síros is waiting for Zelensky's bilateral meeting with the new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, the first encounter of its kind. Good morning, Sándor. Good morning, Stefan. So tell us, how significant is this meeting for Hungary? I think it is very significant because the two countries are set to turn the page and to end 10 years of hostilities which was mostly due to the minority issues of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine and after the change of government in Hungary this is now possible because Peter Magyar wants to have a more pragmatic stance and he really wants to turn the page so this morning they will have a very short meeting 10 to 15 minutes it's a very significant and very symbolic meeting uh hungary criticized ukraine very harshly in the past because of the treatment of the hungarian minorities and the restrictions on some of the language rights this week on Monday the Ukrainian parliament the Rada cleared this issue they modified this law this enabled this meeting and let's take a look of what Peter Módry said yesterday morning when he arrived at the summit Everyone can see what a historic success we have achieved in a few weeks, that we can strengthen the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Transcarpathia, in areas of language use and in areas of official procedures. From this perspective, this is good for us. This is what diplomacy is. We asked for a guarantee and it seems we got it from the Ukrainians. Of course, the proof is in the pudding. We will see how these laws are implemented. Menchanda, we've heard about that invitation to Zelensky. Could he really visit Budapest next week? Well, we don't know yet. The visit is not confirmed yet. And I think a lot of this will depend on how this meeting today in Brussels will go between the two leaders, between Zelensky and Magyar. But I would like to highlight one very important thing. The fact that Zelensky was invited to Budapest by the sitting Hungarian government is already a huge step. It was unimaginable under Orbán. You remember that Orbán's government was putting Zelensky on a billboard. They were portraying him as an enemy and as a security threat to Europe. So already sending out this invitation is a very, very significant and very important message. message and you know there are historical parallels also if Zelensky is really going there to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet Union then you know we could say that two countries were fighting in the past against Moscow's rule and Ukraine is right now fighting against Russian invasion so there could be a really significant and really symbolical meeting there in Budapest if this is happening yeah remarkable parallel there all right Sandor Kiszro at the European Council for us thank you very much and from one corner of the building to the next where our correspondent Shona Murray is standing by good morning Shona good morning Stefan so that was a much longer evening session than expected what happened and where was the much invoked unity? Indeed Stefan, nowhere to be found it appears we knew that this summit had really heavy items on the agenda, not least of which of course was the content of the EU's seven year budget which it stands right now at about 1.6 trillion euros but countries like Germany, Austria the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden want to cut hundreds of billions of euros off that and much more of a focus on competitiveness and defence. There was no progress on this, so it doesn't bode well for the plan to have this negotiation set and done by Christmas time. The summit itself lasted about 14 hours, ended amid a discussion around spiralling energy prices when there was a row over the future of the bloc's emissions trading systems. But I'm joined now by Ireland's European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne to go through a lot of what happened last night and today. Minister, first of all, in relation to Ireland obviously having the presidency of the European Council. It looks like the budget negotiations that you started have really failed and they need to start again. I wouldn't accept that at all. In fact, I think the opposite. Our assignment was to provide a basis for negotiation. I think we've actually got that because we've now handed over our negotiating box to the president of the European Council and he's going to take the negotiations further. And what we're hearing from member states is that by and large, actually, many of them feel that we've gone in the right direction And there are many countries there, not just cohesion countries who want CAP. There are some of the frugal countries, as they're called, that want to protect CAP. So we protected CAP and cohesion. We also have a very significant increase in the competitiveness fund as well. And at the same time, we managed to achieve, I would say, very significant cuts to the Commission proposal, which, of course, many member states have looked for. And it's important to remember, there are not cuts to what we're spending at the moment. There are, in fact, substantial increases. Yeah, indeed. But I mean, one thing that we heard last night from President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, was that there's not enough there for flexibilities in the future and we know, if anything, the European Union is dealing with unbelievable emergencies over the past few years. And there are issues that can get resolved before the leaders come to a final decision. There's no question about that. I would say, if you look around the table, every member state has certainly one issue that they would like to see resolved and, in our view, probably can be resolved towards the end of the negotiations. So I wouldn't panic too much about that. I mean, I think in the overall sense, we've very much gone in the right direction. We've done what we're asked to do which is bring the negotiations to a certain point and i think we've succeeded in that there is a bit of panic though because the idea is that this gets settled by christmas time because there are so many really consequential elections taking place in the eu next year not least in france with Marine Le Pen saying that she will cut even more from the eu budget do you think this can be resolved by christmas i think it can be resolved by christmas but even countries like france and other countries depend heavily for example on the common agricultural policy uh so you know everybody is looking for cuts but you'll find that every member state is something that they want to protect uh there's only one way of doing that it's to get a compromise around the table we know now that our nego box that we produce is a catalyst and to bring the member states to agreement there are other catalysts out there as well the electoral situation we can't do anything about but let's be honest it is a political reality that leaders face what were leaders saying to you and that he shook the irish prime minister last night because You know, from speaking to diplomats, particularly in countries like Sweden, Germany and so on, they say they're quite disappointed with the job the Irish have done. What do they say to your face? I think in general, countries see that we have actually moved in a direction that brings us closer together. The reaction from member states to us, I would have to say, has been as expected. And we've heard some of the comments of the Commission. Of course, the Commission's proposal has been reduced. But that's what member states have looked for. That's what a substantial number have looked for. others wanted capital cohesion protected. So we've tried to square that circle. I think people acknowledge that we've at least done that and that this will bring us further towards agreement. Minister, there was also a discussion around enlargement. Your priority as part of the Irish presidency was to have Montenegro as part of the European Union, a member, by the end of this year. But there have been kind of roadblocks along the way, particularly from countries like Croatia and others. Tell us about this. Well, we want to conclude the negotiations by the end of this year. It'll take a little bit longer to actually for them to become a member. And I think we've achieved remarkable success on that in so far in that we have closed chapters in July and closing this week as well. So we've closed nearly two thirds of their negotiating chapters. I think that's a really good moment. And actually, we depend on the member states to agree that. And now we're asking the member states and Montenegro to let that process move forward to complete it by the end of the year. So Montenegro has to do the work. It's a merit based process. But we need the member states to respond. And so far, the member states have. Just before I go on to Ukraine, because that's today, there was an almighty row over the fate of the emissions trading system last night. And a lot of people blaming George Maloney, the Italian Prime Minister, for acting in bad faith. Is that something you'd agree with? Because the whole summit ended abruptly without a press conference and in disarray. I wouldn't say that's the case. Look, there is an issue on the ETS that it is politically very charged in many member states. That's simply a reality. And I think we have to reflect that reality. So I'm not going to criticize Prime Minister Maloney or anybody else for raising this issue. I suppose what we know, though, is that the emissions trading system and how that works is, I would say, essential to how we move and transition to the new energy supplies and how we reduce costs for consumers. Well, look, today is a big day. President Zelensky of Ukraine will be here in the next short while. And he is looking for more money because it was underestimated how much is required for Ukraine to keep its funding over the next couple of years. What will the European Union be able to do for him in this hour of need? Well, the European Union has already responded very strongly to Ukraine. We've seen this year a €90 billion loan for defence and for their government needs. And member states as well, including Ireland, have also given support to Ukraine. So, look, let's listen to what the leaders say and decide. But that support for Ukraine is absolutely ongoing and essential for the European continent as well as for Ukraine. OK, Thomas Byrne, Ireland European Affairs Minister, thank you very much for joining us on Euronews. And back to you in studio, Stefan. Thank you, Shona, and thank you, Minister Byrne. That does it for us today. Thank you for watching. I'm Stefan Grobe. Maeve McMahon will be in this chair on Monday. Take care and see you soon