Europe must stop 'begging' for seat at Ukraine peace talks, ex-NATO chief warns

You visited the European Commission today to meet with the European Commissioner for Defence, Andrus Kobilas. What did you talk about? We talked about how to stop the war in Ukraine by stopping Putin. Putin has intensified the attacks against Ukraine with drones and missiles. He hopes to bomb the Ukrainian people into submission during the coming winter. And at the same time, we have seen President Trump. I chose Moscow and siding with Putin, and this is a situation we have to take seriously. The Europeans must wake up. If we don't, we'll be sleepwalking into a permanent war on the European continent. Europe is begging for a place at the table, but you cannot beg you to a seat at the table. You have to make yourself indispensable. by bringing assets to the table. So I hope Europe will now wake up, shift gear, and tell both the Americans and the Ukrainians we are ready, we have some assets to bring to the table. But you speak about going to the table, and we saw that the leaders from Finland and Norway were under fire for a 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The prime minister of your country, Mette Frederiksen, blasted this, stating that this shouldn't have occurred. Do you follow her train of thought, or is this the right step for a nation to step up and say, we're the voice of Europe? Well, I think it's a good thing to talk with the Russians, but it should be coordinated. And we should understand that we in Europe cannot be neutral mediators. We will side with the Ukrainians. We will speak on behalf of the Ukrainians. I think that's what we first and foremost should do. But there has been also some criticism from the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, stating that negotiations shouldn't go over the heads of Eastern European countries. You were NATO Secretary General when a lot of these countries joined NATO. Are you concerned that perhaps a leader from a Western European country might not have the best interests at heart when it comes to Europe's eastern flank? We should have listened to the Eastern Europeans in due time. And I think it's important that Europe gets a seat at the table, but we should do it by bringing assets to the table. And I think that's more important than actually appointing someone. Fair enough. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is touring the Black Sea starting from Monday until Tuesday. It comes off a spate of drone incursions which have sunk commercial vessels, have killed seafarers. Do you think that this region can truly be safe? We should establish what I would call a Black Sea Sentry, like we have done in the Baltic Sea. We should establish a maritime mission in the Black Sea to ensure free navigation. But do you think that this is something that the European Commission should do, or is this firmly in the hands of NATO, which has already beefed up its presence in the region? Well, I'm not sure we should make it a NATO mission, but it could be a Turkish, Bulgarian, Romanian-led mission. And one final question. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that he's waited a significant amount of time for Patriot interceptor missiles made from the United States. These are weapons paid for by European allies. What do you think the hold up is and how is this impacting Ukraine on the battlefield? Well, obviously it's damaging for the defense of Ukraine, and I'm so disappointed that the Americans have not delivered what they have promised to deliver. I'm not going to guess about the reasons why, but it just underlines the need for us in Europe to be able to stand on our own feet When you were NATO Secretary General, did you ever see anything like this that you can ever compare it to? Not at all. I mean, it was another era. It was an era where we could trust the American ally. I think when push comes to shove, the Americans will come to the aid of Europe. But We have to be able to stand on our own feet. It's high time that we take decisions in Europe, irrespective of who is residing in the White House.