Two days after the American elections on November 5, the Twenty-Seven must meet in Budapest. On Thursday, November 7, they will have a first exchange of vows during a dinner in the Hungarian capital, before meeting, the next day, for a summit of European Heads of State and Government, theoretically dedicated to the competitiveness of their economy.
Among them, a very small minority wants Donald Trump to win. 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 that position, is his most fervent supporter. She called him on October 31 to wish him ” good luck “. “Fingers crossed”announced on the social network X, the nationalist leader, that he plans to open the champagne if the Republican candidate is elected. It is certain that Slovakian Robert Fico would also welcome that result.
As for the president of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, who opted for transatlanticism when she came to power two years ago, but whose post-fascist party, Fratelli d’Italia, maintains friendly relations with Donald Trump’s teams, remains ambiguous. However, no one missed that he warmly thanked the very Trumpian owner of X, Elon Musk, a “beautiful genius”she said, as he presented her with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award on September 23. Otherwise, the vast majority of European leaders, from Paris to Berlin, passing through Madrid, Stockholm and Warsaw, would prefer that the Democrat Kamala Harris be elected.
In budapest, “except Orban and Fico, Europeans will have to react in the most orderly way possible”summarizes a European diplomat. Between now and the European Council scheduled in Brussels in December, they will have to clarify their line and the way in which they intend to react to possible decisions by 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 option of “America first” and neither is willing to make concessions to the Europeans. Especially since the US trade deficit with the EU remains high and Washington is obsessed with its economic fight against Beijing. On the security front, Barack Obama, when he was president, asked the Twenty-seven to take their destiny into their own hands by increasing their defense spending, and since then none of his successors has given another speech.
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