But where is Europe in this matter here as the Americans vote? Good day to you.

Good day, John.

Thank you for having me on your show and good day to today as well.

Well, the three options or views that Gideon Rackman put forward, the three of them are loaded with weaknesses.

And I would like to take the US view first, actually, because I think this is the most important.

Given the Kushner-Vitkov obsession with oil deals and lifting sanctions and you can call it appeasement with Russia.

Actually, that's what the Germans tried to do until recently under Angela Merkel and previous chancellors.

Judy, is AFD growing in popularity as we watch Russia advance? Does that make them more attractive or less attractive to the German public that's coming?

Why? What are we to take from the French misconduct?

It's actually very depressing.

Why are they losing, especially to lose the place where the Airbus airplanes are made and gives enormous number of jobs to the people around the area.

But these students and those supporters, they...

It's very hard for me to say, but I do say that in all the recent demonstrations and upheavals in France, this is absolutely one of the worst.

They smashed small little shops.

They smashed grocers.

Is that spirit still in Germany, or do they want nothing to do with it?

So if this is read widely then in Europe, will this really change any of the attitudes towards the Trump administration at this point?

You have to turn it around the other way.

The Europeans have no illusions about the Trump administration.

And what is interesting today is that in Oslo, Vytkov, Trump's so-called envoy, is going to meet Zelensky, but also the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo.

And this is very important because Alexander Stump, the leader in Finland, is very, very... capable, understands what Russia is doing, supports Ukraine, and so does Norway.

And it's very good that Zelensky will have this kind of support and that Vidkov will hear these words.

But to get back to your question, the Europeans know they...

Does the rest of the Europe, 450 million people, do they understand they're under assault now?

Is that story still current in Germany, that there's going to be an attack?

It, it's, uh, the attack is speculative.

It may be hypothetical, but actually we don't know, uh, Russia's intentions in terms of actually attacking a NATO country.

And the point about, uh, this, the, the remarks by Alexis, uh, Klinkewich, that's NATO's, uh, supreme allied commander in Europe, e- essentially, uh, uh, the commander of, of all the NATO forces in Europe.

He was saying, "Uh, don't play, don't play this game with us because NATO's going to actually, uh, defend its territory, uh, without any kind of equivocation." We...

As he said, "We will stop the attack and deny them the ability to achieve their objectives, whatever those might be.

We will, in short, ensure any attack against any ally and proves utterly futile." It does show, uh, this, uh, it does show the, the, the language, how the language has changed, and the fact that they're confronting and naming Russia directly.

Does Schröder represent a, an old guard that wants it back the way it was before the war?

Now, France is up for a presidential election in '27, correct? So that's coming in the springtime.

Yes.

Well, this is, this is the real issue, and, um, at the moment, um, Marine Le Pen's party, the, the nationalist party is, is really topping the polls, uh, but her, her would-be prime minister is having some problems with allegedly things he wrote and what he said about, uh, uh, on anti-Semitic issues several years ago.

But it's very, very serious for Marine Le Pen because she doesn't want to scare investors off.

She doesn't want to plunge France into a huge, uh, Eurozone crisis.

She doesn't want France to default on any of its loans.

So this crisis actually may make her more sanguine and more careful on how to deal with Ger-- uh, France's economic woes.

Do I remember that correctly?

Germany's got expectations that are not being met by the budget.

Well, the budget...

Merz is a little bit fortunate because he's got so much money to throw at so many things, whether it's defence or infrastructure or other issues as well.

But there's a bigger problem with Merz on how he's going to deal with all of this.

And yes, he's taken responsibility for it, but it's very, very unclear how he's going to... regain the initiative.

The reforms take time.

All reforms take time.

Is that a factor in Germany? Is that a factor in the EU? Or am I reading at the margins here because they write excitable headlines at Reuters?

Has that continued?

Oh, yes, this is continuing.

We have two important elections coming up in two weeks' time.

One in Berlin, the capital of Germany, and one in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, up in the north, east, former East German, still East German, but under the Communists.

And this is very, very important for Chancellor Merz.

At the moment, the CDU, his Christian Democrats, actually govern Berlin.

But the chances are that a left wing party may actually become number one.

Yes, Judy, has the AFD managed to form a government in Saxony and Hull for day one? No,

Is that the unknown in German elections now, the people who have not voted so alienated coming out for AFD?

I don't want to digress into why Peter Magyar won the Hungarian elections because he won the rural vote, but that's another history.

Look, Berlin is not Saxony on hand.

Berlin is bulgy.

Berlin is left wing.

Berlin is difficult.

Berlin is so badly run.

What does this vote for the AFD, the excitement, the thrills of all of a sudden the outsider is inside the tent? What does it mean for NATO and the EU?

What happened in Leipzig, Judy? How is it being explained by the government?

The government and the intelligence services, I'm not going to use this word, extremely concerned.

They know this is, they won't say it, of course, but they say this is a state actor and their fingers being pointed at Russia.

But this is a very, very serious drone attack that could have caused deaths, explosions, an awful lot of difficulties at Leipzig airport.

Leipzig is in the state of Saxony, the East German state of Saxony.

It's quite a hub, very busy airport, but particularly a hub for the transportation of goods to Ukraine.

And the goods are cordoned off and they are packed onto very big aircraft carriers called Antonov, the old Russian transport maker.

Yeah.

Do you see him going the way of full support?

Well, he said yesterday and the day before that he would supply certain training systems, very high-powered missiles and other military systems to Ukraine that would demand training them, of course.

And he was asked by a British journalist if this would be seen as a provocation by Russia, particularly if those missiles and weaponry given by Ukraine Britain to Ukraine would be seen as a British provocation and would Russia take steps accordingly? So, but Burnham just is focused at the moment on the bilateral relationship between Ukraine and, and Great Britain.

And you must remember that the relationship between Britain and Russia is now so bad.

It's been deteriorating way before the second invasion by Russia of Ukraine.

This goes back to the chemical attack of Russian living in England.

So the relations are absolutely appalling.

Is that correct?

What did we witness, Judy?

There are many levels to this question.

We witnessed, no doubt, a surge of aspirations and hopes by very, very young men.

And if you see the pictures, most of them were men.

And about 60,000 people, they entered the Spanish ex-slave of Cueta.

By the way, this is not in Spain proper.

It borders with Morocco.

Am I generalizing too much?

Is he handling it in a fashion that's alarming in some fashion, or is he regarded as adequate to the challenge?

You wonder what adequate to the challenge is because there are According to the German police, I mean, there are an awful lot of there are, I have to use the word very carefully, terrorist suspects under suspicion.

And this young man who rammed his van into the crowd actually had been in jail for a while.

And then he was released.

But he was he was known as a suspect with terrorist activities.

And so the question is, you know, does Chancellor Merz have to carry the can for this or is it the judicial authorities or is it the police? But this is terribly bad timing.

Any death is awful.

Is that a Merz problem that he can't speak bluntly as the AFD can about the incident?

Thank you

for having me on your show.

The Europeans, of course, and the German press have reported this, but they have held back on any kind of editorial comment, first of all.

Secondly, the relationship between Berlin and Kiev is very close.

And I'm sure they have been discussing the implications of this.

But both the German government and other governments throughout the EU have, I suppose, not an understanding, but they recognize what is at stake for Ukraine and why Ukraine did it because of the Iranian Russian connection and Russia supplying Iran and Iran whatever it's doing with Ukraine and Russia.

But actually, Ukraine was not willing to take this line down.

Are we headed in that direction again? The two wars are going to meet, and it'll be nakedly Washington versus Moscow.

So I bring all this up because the question now is, does democracy find itself at such risk, personal risk, that it is no longer capable of walking among the people? Do they need a partition between democracy and the people they rule? Judy, what is the case in Germany? Are the members of Bundestag feeling risk?

Well, actually, there are two elements to this question.

One is on the local level, on the local government level, mayors who speak out for democracy and are against AFD and, you know, pro-asylum, helping people, pro-immigration, integration.

God, are they targeted.

And they receive an awful lot of hate mail.

And so on the local level, what happens is that not only is the verbal and sometimes physical attacks on these politicians increasing, but what happens is that who on earth is going into politics on that level? And why should they risk it to their families, to their lives? You know, politics is becoming very...

dangerous, fragile and the idea of politics as a public service for your citizens that really doesn't get that much traction at the moment.

Do you find that statistically there are fewer and fewer people entering into local government or campaigns, or is there just a sense that It may not be something people are really looking at anymore.

Would that be something that they would pay attention to?

They pay attention to it all the time.

For shipping, for energy prices, for fertilizers, for commercial traffic, for stability, for predictability.

Behind the scenes to this, of course, the German government is very, very worried about this on-off closure of the strait.

This is the first thing.

And secondly, the German government, along with its allies in the European Union, particularly France and Britain and Poland, they don't know where they stand with regard to, on the one hand, the White House administration policy, strategic policy, if they have one, towards ending this war in Iran.

And actually, in the German Chancellery and in the German Foreign Ministry, they look at the long view, which actually might be quite counterintuitive because Germany really doesn't think strategically.

Is this some new reorganization of the sovereign states together, self-interested, cut off from each other? What does it look like to you right now from Berlin?

But the direction next is, is this a war with Russia and NATO? Is this a war with Ukraine and Russia? Are the drones our best idea? Are the drones going to continue to isolate Russia? Are we going to speak to Russia in some fashion? Do we recognize that Putin is no longer the absolute boss, that he's under pressure from his own hawks who want war, war, war, and his own population that want this thing done? What is your expectation of NATO this time?

Well, you've packed in an awful lot of questions there, John.

The expectation of NATO is the expectation of the President of the United States.

And he was blowing hot and cold on attending the NATO summit until last week when he said, oh, because of my friend, President Erdogan, that's the President of Turkey, I will go to the NATO summit.

Ah, but there's no price as a free visit by Donald Trump to the NATO summit because President Erdogan, who's hosting it, actually finally wants to get fighter jets from the United States.

And this has been denied for some time for many, many reasons.

So given Erdogan's close connections with Trump now, Trump may sort of reward him as an ally and giving him these much coveted fighter jets.

Is that a problem for Germany or for the rest of the EU to treat Turkey as an equal when it behaves so waywardly?

¿Es esa la misma crisis que va a pasar en Alemania con este despliegue de 100.000 en Volkswagen? Buen día a ti, Judy.

Buenas tardes, John, y gracias por estar conmigo en tu programa, John.

Bueno, esto es fundamental, este anuncio de la gestión de Volkswagen.

De alguna manera, no es sorprendente, la escritura ha estado en la pared de Volkswagen por un tiempo, pero decidieron hacer cortes de pie, en lugar de tratar de empezar con los cambios extraordinariamente radicales que afectan a la industria del coche globalmente.

Así que, como mencionaste, el motor general, el Volkswagen, ha sido lento para aceptar la realidad, lento para adaptarse, y ahora está rodeado de miedo e incertidumbre en lo que hacer.

Y el camino adelante también debe involucrar al electorado.

¿Los cientos de miles de personas, ¿está ampliado por todo el país o es principalmente en algunos estados? Está en algunos estados, John, pero tienes que recordar que este 100.000 no es solo sobre el trabajo en el piso de la fábrica de Volkswagen.

¿Es esto nuevo? ¿Es esto controversial en la misma manera que los desplazamientos? ¿O es una materia minoritaria dada la economía?

Does the AFD? More tonight.

Well, the AFD could exploit Volkswagen because one of Volkswagen's manufacturing sites are based, one or two are based in Eastern Germany.

But the AFD curiously have criticised it, but they haven't come up with any kind of economic solutions.

And this is one of the weakest elements of their so-called programme.

As for conscription, they're quite anti it, one can expect.

And they're still anti-NATO, of course.

And you're a sceptic.

Will that work to the populist success, despite the fact that I don't think they have any better answers than the Magas do?

It's a very good question because this was a discussion we were having just last evening in Vienna, a very distinguished panel that included the former Chancellor of Austria.

And we were discussing these issues.

And if we look at the case in Germany, there's a crucial election coming up in the autumn in the state of Sachsen-Anhalt.

The AFD is leading the polls.

The CDU governs this Eastern German state.

He's a bright premier, but maybe not enough to defeat the AFD.

I

that Mr. Trump is turning away from NATO, or provide evidence that Europe is now taking its self-defense seriously and is going to match the ability of NATO to use gravity bombs in the potential of a Russian invasion? How do you read this, Judy? How does Brussels want us to read this?

Thanks, John, for having me on your show.

You've packed in an awful lot of questions there.

And I think we just have to stand back a little and ask, why now? I mean, this is a serious leak if we are to believe this is highly confidential.

And if it's a serious leak and it's highly confidential, what's the message? Does this reflect disunity in the Trump administration on how to deal with these critical weapon systems? And they are actually very, very important because it's about transparency.

the continuing American nuclear security umbrella for Europe.

And at the moment, this nuclear security umbrella extends to six countries.

Has that changed?

More of this tonight.

This element of the United States withdrawing troops or reducing the number of troops from Europe, this is an old debate.

And I remember it was brought up two thousand and two, two thousand and three when I was based in Brussels covering NATO for the Financial Times.

And I said, I wrote this exact article saying, oh, the Americans are considering reducing the troops.

And of course, the Americans denied it.

Well, they did reduce the troops.

There are other priorities.

Is the same thing going on in Germany? Is AFD getting stronger as it moves from state election to state election?

There was an opinion poll published today, and it's actually quite disturbing.

The AFD is now ahead of the Christian Democrat, Christian Social Union Coalition.

It's around about 27%, and the Chancellor Mercer's party is around 26%.

The Social Democrats, Chancellor Mercer's coalition party, it's just fallen through.

The Greens are coming up.

The Linke, the left-wing party, is doing well.

On the foreign policy of the AFD, my understanding is that they're supporting and they're tacit support of Putin in Ukraine, and they are tacitly supporting Putin or actually openly supporting the Iranians against the U.S. Is that about right, or are they trying to hedge more?

So what is the mood, Judy? Good day to you.

Good day, John, and John, thank you for having me on your show.

What is the mood? It's very interesting, this question, because this war, this Israeli-American war now against Iran has been going on for nearly five weeks and there's a stalemate and there's a growing feeling in the German establishment that what Trump, what President Trump says, you cannot believe him.

He says one thing one day, another thing a couple of hours later.

A deal is in the making.

A deal is not in the making.

And then he bombs some Iranian installations.

So now is the EU turning towards China as a concern, or does the threat of the American trade war continue to dominate the concerns?

Judy explains more of this later.

Well, first of all, they are anti-Ukraine.

There's no doubt about that.

And they're pretty critical of NATO.

They were critical of President Trump's ambitions to take over Greenland.

They were very anti-MAGA on this.

They sort of flip flop depending on the mood, but certainly anti the war in Iran.

Is that a concern that what we have here is a party seeking to please, not to actually lead?

oh, this is a big concern.

The AFD used to be pro-MAGA and their leading people used to be invited to MAGA dinners and so on.

And everything Trump did was great in terms of anti-immigration and so on.

And now we have a situation where for the AFD is anti-Iran war.

And not only that, the leaders of the AFD are actually copying, spouting what Chancellor Mertz said, criticising President Trump's conduct of the war, that he had no strategy vis-à-vis Iran.

And then, of course, we know that Trump got very, very angry and criticised Mertz and Mertz threatening tariffs and so on.

Is that accurate? Are the cognoscentes speaking well suddenly of AFD?