"Unacceptable": EU Commissioner To NDTV On Trump's Spat With Zelensky

Speaking out on the spat between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, European Union Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has criticised the Trump administration and said "that was an unacceptable way" of treating the president of a country that is fighting for its survival. 

In an exclusive, wide-ranging conversation with NDTV on Saturday, Mr Kubilius, who is the European Commissioner for Defence Industry and Space, also said that the 21st century will be India's century and that the European Commission is keen on fast-tracking a free trade agreement with the country. 

On the Trump-Zelensky showdown, Mr Kubilius, who is a former prime minister of Lithuania, said, "That was a totally difficult to understand and unacceptable way of receiving a president of another country that is fighting for its survival. A lot of European leaders, including EU Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen, have given clear reactions and a message to Mr Zelensky and Ukraine that they will not stand alone. The strategy of President Trump and his team is still not clear to us."

The Commissioner said the EU had started getting strange messages during the Munich conference, when US Vice President JD Vance had been critical of the Union on several points.

Emphasising that everyone in the European Union is standing for peace in Ukraine, he continued, "Ukrainians really deserve peace and they are the ones with the strongest wish to have peace. But a just peace can only be achieved through a formula of peace through strength. That formula was repeated also by Americans till now. This means that we need to bring strength to the Ukranians - military, financial and so on - to show Vladimir Putin that he will not achieve anything in Ukraine. Mr Putin started the war, he started the aggression."

Mr Kubilius also said that the United States has a "wrong understanding" that their support to Ukraine was as high as the EU's. "We are supporting and the Americans were supporting Ukraine quite a lot... but the Union's general, military and financial support was around 30% bigger than American support. Our support was $130 billion, and the US' was $100 billion, not 500 or whatever we hear from President Trump sometimes," he said. 

The Commissioner pointed out that the military support by the US and the EU per year was below 0.1% of the GDP and it can, thus, be increased. 

He also warned that not supporting Ukraine would send a signal to China that it can also behave aggressively.

"And we need to increase because Ukraine is defending all of us. It definitely defends us Europeans and, in some way, also the US. Because if the West will fail in Ukraine and Russia, with its aggressive policies, will win, we can see very clearly what will be the international consequences. I am absolutely sure, for example, China is watching what is happening in Ukraine. And if China will make a conclusion that the West is weak politically and is unable to stop Russia aggression, it can also behave in an aggressive way, either towards Taiwan, or whatever," he said. 

Rules-Based Order

To a question on how India and the European Union can collaborate and ensure that the international rules-based order is maintained, the Commissioner said Europe is facing big threats from Russia and European intelligence agencies have said that Moscow could turn its aggression towards EU or NATO member states next. India, he pointed out, is facing its own threats in the Indo-Pacific.

"In my view, countries which are based on the same principles of democracy, of rule of law, and (support for an) international order based on clear principles of sovereignty and non-aggression should unite and be much more proactive in not allowing countries, usually authoritarian countries, testing us with any kind of aggression or some kind of authoritarian aggressive axis. Especially, you know, when we are concerned about Russian behavior, we see Russia, Iran, North Korea and China somewhere, you know, not far away," he said.

"So that is why we need to be very clear that we cannot allow anybody to behave in an aggressive way, not stopped by the international democratic community," he added.

'India's Century'

Mr Kubilius said this is the first visit to India by the entire EU College of Commissioners which underlines how significant it considers its strategic relationship with India. 

"I have been repeating that the 21st century will be, first of all, the century of space and the century of India... because of Indian development, significance and the geopolitical and economic roles India is playing and will play until the end of the century. The European Union and India are living with the same values of democracy, of human rights... and that makes our cooperation, our strategic partnership very important," he said.

The Commissioner said he had important meetings with the Minister of Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh, ISRO officials and others and that he agrees with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that this is "no time to put any kind of limits in our future cooperation between European Union and India". 

"There are a lot of possibilities which we discussed. For example, we agreed to have a high-level strategic space dialogue, that our talks for a free trade agreement should be finished as quickly as possible... at least until the end of the year. Another point, very important, related to defence and security: The Commission president offered for us (EU and India) to develop the so-called strategic pact on defence and security, like the European Union has, for example, with Japan and South Korea," he said, adding that India is playing a very important role globally and in the Indo-Pacific region, which is also very important for the EU. 

The pact on defence, Mr Kubilius said, could include organising joint exercises, sharing data and space activities. 

Space, Defence Cooperation

Stressing that he was "very impressed" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious space programme, the Commissioner said he had discussed India's plans to achieve a crewed moon landing by 2040, building a space station and the recent successful docking experiment. 

"We can expect that there will be some kind of manufacturing in space. We can expect that there will be energy production in space. And everything that will open new possibilities for cooperation, for joint projects (between the EU and India)... If you are able to show that in space you are able to do something significant, it means that you are really good and strong partners," he said. 

Asked whether EU companies would partner with Indian firms and establish joint manufacturing in India, Mr Kubilius pointed again to Ms von der Leyen's "no-limit" partnership comment and said he could not see why not.

He also stressed that, given Russia's "aggression", India could be a good option to help fill the gaps in the EU's defence capabilities.

"In that way, really, we need to look also at how those gaps should be filled by whatever means we can implement, including, for example, joint ventures, joint projects. India has a really very well-known defence industry. You have a lot of skilled people. The production cost in India is lower than it is in Europe. So, why not look for beneficial cooperation?" he said.