'We have to close defence gaps urgently': EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chief McAllister

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We sit down with David McAllister, the chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. He talks to us about the security threats facing Europe, and what defence gaps the EU urgently needs to close. For McAllister, the EU is "not at war with the Russian Federation, but we are no longer at peace with Russia". He also believes that the EU is not, as yet, capable of making sovereign decisions in certain areas of defence "because we are too dependent on US capabilities."

We ask about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz leading the charge to secure hundreds of billions of euros in cuts from the proposed EU budget, also known as the Multiannual Financial Framework, or MFF. Would Merz's proposal not hurt cohesion, regional development and social spending that EU member states actually benefit from?

In Germany, the far-right AfD party surged in recent regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. What are the implications for conservatives, for Christian Democrats and for the European People's Party?

本文の著作権はFrance 24にあります。