Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) leader Kelemen Hunor on Tuesday said that U.S. President Donald Trump's second term will be stronger than his first, wondering whether the European Union has a plan in place for partnership with the new American administration.
The UDMR chairman argued that if the European Union is not prepared for a partnership with the U.S. and the new Donald Trump administration, every member country will lose. Neither Trump nor the U.S. administration will wait until the EU is ready, he added.
According to Kelemen Hunor, after Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president, things will change, and America's interests will be prioritised.
"Donald Trump enters office, and from today, things will change. Both sympathies and friendships will matter, but America's interests will come first in all the decisions the Trump administration will make. This should be evident when we talk about trade relations, transatlantic relations between Europe and the U.S., and when we discuss U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, but also regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine," said Kelemen Hunor on Antena 3 CNN.
In his opinion, the U.S. president is "much stronger than he was in the first term."
"It will be a different term than the first one for Trump, and certainly, the U.S. president is much stronger than he was in his first term. I am convinced that Trump's team will dominate the U.S. administration, which did not happen last time, neither in foreign policy nor in trade policy. My question for us, in Romania and the EU, is whether we are all prepared for a partnership with the U.S., whether the EU leadership currently has a worthy plan and knows how to convince the American administration that the relationship between the U.S. and the EU must be extremely important because we will be stronger together. Of course, this involves economy, trade, security, and everything that means the reshaping of international relations. If the EU is not prepared, we will all lose, because neither President Trump nor the U.S. administration will wait for us to get ready and make our plans," Kelemen Hunor stressed.
According to him, "the question is whether Europeans are aware that Donald Trump will pursue U.S. interests as long as he is the U.S. president, not the EU president."
"His priority will be to place U.S. interests first regarding internal relations, immigration, economy, tariffs, and security issues. That should be our primary concern - competitiveness, energy, trade, customs tariffs, plus transatlantic relations and everything that means Europe's security. When Trump calls for defence investments, he is saying something predictable; he's not saying this for the first time, he said it in his first term as well. To receive security guarantees from the U.S., you have to put money on the table because no one has said that until the end of the world, U.S. defence will be free," said the UDMR leader.
He warned that "defence services cost every state and the U.S." and estimated a percentage between 2.3 - 2.5% of GDP for defence, a large sum for each EU state, including Romania.
"We need to know that defence services cost every state and the U.S. If we cannot see the big picture, we will lose, categorically," Kelemen Hunor pointed out.
Asked about the potential role of Hungary's prime minister in finding a balance in how the EU should work with Donald Trump, the UDMR leader said that Viktor Orban has "a vision for everything related to the future of the EU."
"Some criticise you, which is fine, it depends on who criticizes you. Orban has tried to push relations toward finding a peace solution as quickly as possible without saying how peace should look, that cannot be done without the Ukrainians. Hungary, like Romania and the states in this region, as an economic force, political force, and demographic force, are too small. [...] This relationship between Trump and Orban will not disappear, it will remain and will count to some extent, but no one should expect that Orban will solve the EU's problems alone. Those who lead the EU should be aware that without a partnership with Trump's administration and the U.S., they will not overcome this competitiveness crisis. We will not solve the problems in Ukraine and Russia's aggression war on our own. Without the U.S., these things cannot be solved, and therefore, both the EU and the European Commission president and EU leaders must be aware that something new is coming, something different," explained the UDMR chairman.
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