This edition of State of the Union looks at the NATO summit in Washington and the negative reactions to Viktor Orbán's self-declared peace mission to Moscow and Beijing
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00:00Hello and welcome to State of the Union, I'm Stefan Grobe in Brussels.
00:10What a week this has been, and a bad week for nationalist and populist forces.
00:16French voters produced a reverse shocker by keeping the far-right far away from power
00:21in the second round of the general election.
00:24On the European level, mushrooming far-right parliamentary groups are splintering the populist
00:29influence in the European Parliament.
00:32And the self-declared herald of peace, nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, found
00:38out the hard way what clout he has in the real world, and that is zero.
00:44Just days into his new role as rotating EU Council President, Orban traveled to Moscow
00:49and Beijing on what he bombastically called peace mission to end the war in Ukraine.
00:55Well, not only did he come back empty-handed, but he was also read the riot act by the rest
01:01of the EU.
01:02Here is Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will take over the EU Presidency in January.
01:25Some member states are so angry at Budapest, they now even want to shorten the Hungarian
01:45Presidency.
01:46That doesn't seem to go anywhere, but the first Hungary-chaired council meetings were
01:51snubbed by ministers who sent civil servants instead.
01:56Hungary could feel its isolation even more at the NATO summit in Washington, where U.S.
02:01President Joe Biden had this to say about Orban's bosom friend, Vladimir Putin.
02:06Putin wants nothing less, nothing less than Ukraine's total subjugation, to end Ukraine's
02:13democracy, to destroy Ukraine's culture, and to wipe Ukraine off the map.
02:22And we know Putin won't stop at Ukraine, but make no mistake, Ukraine can and will stop
02:29Putin.
02:34The Washington summit was meant to present a united front and show that in its 75th year,
02:40the alliance is as strong as ever.
02:42It was overshadowed by a series of crises, of which questions about President Biden's
02:47fitness for office at 81 was probably the least of the problems.
02:53So what's in store for NATO going forward?
02:56Joining me now is Ian Lesser, Executive Director of the Brussels office of the German Marshall
03:01Fund.
03:02Welcome to the program.
03:03Good to be with you.
03:04So President Biden has called the alliance the most unified it has ever been, but behind
03:10the scenes, the mood was rather gloomy.
03:13What are the most important challenges for NATO going forward?
03:16Well, above all, even though this is the 75th anniversary and it has, in some sense, a celebratory
03:23character to it, there is a war going on in Europe.
03:26There's an increasingly dangerous relationship with Russia, also a very competitive relationship
03:32with China.
03:33But it's above all, it's about deterring and defending against Russia, but also providing
03:38Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself.
03:41NATO is trying to inoculate itself against the disruptions and crises that Donald Trump
03:47might instigate should he return, trying to make itself Trump-proof, so to speak.
03:53Can this actually work?
03:54Well, NATO has had some experience with this.
03:56Of course, we don't know what the outcome will be in Washington.
03:59But even if Biden is reelected, there are going to be big challenges for NATO.
04:04Any American administration is going to keep coming to Europe and asking Europe to spend
04:08more and do more.
04:09And of course, NATO has been doing some of that.
04:11But the challenges are very large and the requirements are very big.
04:16But of course, that's a much more pointed issue if Trump is reelected.
04:21And there is some desire to try to put Europe in a more stable position in that regard.
04:26Yes, there is Trump, but there's also growing power of far-right forces unfriendly to NATO
04:31in Europe.
04:32How serious a problem is this for the alliance?
04:35Well, far-right, but also in some cases also on the left, parties that are not always supportive
04:43of the transatlantic relationship.
04:46This too can be a problem.
04:47It can be a problem in terms of policy towards Russia, support for Ukraine, defense spending.
04:53Many of the parties who are seeking power in Europe want to spend money on other things,
04:59on social programs, at a time when defense is demanding more spending.
05:04And that requirement is probably going to go on for years.
05:06So in a sense, the stresses exist in a political way on both sides of the Atlantic.
05:11Finally, there is a new secretary general in town.
05:15Is Mark Rutter the right man for steering NATO through stormy waters?
05:20Well, everything that is done at NATO, from the smallest to the largest thing, is done
05:24by consensus.
05:26And there are a few things more important than choosing a secretary general in very
05:30difficult times.
05:31And so I think the fact that Mark Rutter was chosen with a great deal of support, it wasn't
05:37very controversial, says something about where the alliance wants to go and the degree of
05:41confidence in his leadership.
05:43And I think that's probably correct.
05:45All right.
05:46Ian Lessa, executive director of the German Marshall Fund in Brussels.
05:49Thanks for coming on the show today.
05:51Always good to be with you.
05:52Thank you.
05:54Before we go, let's take a look at what's new in the world of arts.
05:58I like art.
06:00The bigger, the better.
06:02And here's Italian land artist Dario Gambarin with his latest work on a crop field outside
06:07of Verona.
06:09Using only a plow and a tractor, he drew the Eiffel Tower in dedication to the upcoming
06:14Olympics.
06:15It's a contribution to peace in hopes that sports will unite people all over the world,
06:21he says.
06:23Over in London's Kensington Gardens, a mammoth-sized pumpkin is quite the spectacle.
06:28The bronze sculpture is the largest pumpkin by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and is part
06:35of the Serpentine Gallery's public art program.
06:38Kusama's relationship with pumpkins is rooted in her childhood when her home was surrounded
06:44by squash.
06:46She admires pumpkins for their hardiness, their humorous forms and their taste.
06:53There you have it.
06:54That's it for this edition.
06:55I'm Stefan Grober.
06:56Thank you for watching.
06:57Have an excellent week.