Germany’s Scholz calls for ‘cool heads’ in response to Trump
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has been speaking in Davos and offered his comments on the new US administration under Donald Trump.
Here is what he had to say:
In a world which due to social media permanently teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown, we need cool heads. Not every press conference, not every tweet should plunge us into a heated existential debate, and this is also true after the change of government that took place in Washington ….
The US are our closest ally outside Europe and I will do everything for it to remain like that, because it is in our mutual interest and … it is indispensable for peace and security around the globe…
It is absolutely clear that President Trump will keep the world in suspense in the coming years in the fields of energy, climate, trade, foreign and security policy. … He reiterated it yesterday.
We are able and will be dealing with this, without any excitement and indignation, but also without fake cosying up and telling them what they want to hear.
Key events
‘Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ Scholz says
Scholz also offered some comments on the importance of continued support for Ukraine, saying that Europe and the West “need to do everything in order to protect and preserve the fundamental principles of the international order.”
The most fundamental principle is the inviolability of borders and, by the way, this holds true everywhere, all over the place. Anyone who challenges this principle, challenges the rules-based order as a whole.
This is why President Putin must not be successful with a war of aggression which he unleashed against Ukraine.
And what is often being overlooked is that so far, he doesn’t have success. Putin wanted to divide Ukraine and the EU and instead it’s an EU accession candidate … He wanted NATO to be divided and weak as possible, and it stands united and has two more members in Sweden and Finland.
He wanted to subjugate Ukraine militarily, and instead the Ukrainian army is much stronger … than before the war, and equipped with Western weapons.
It is first and foremost thanks to the brave people of Ukraine … but also the result of our support. This support is and will remain the path to a true and just peace in Ukraine. …
The men and women of Ukraine will have to have the final say. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
Germany’s Scholz calls for ‘cool heads’ in response to Trump
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has been speaking in Davos and offered his comments on the new US administration under Donald Trump.
Here is what he had to say:
In a world which due to social media permanently teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown, we need cool heads. Not every press conference, not every tweet should plunge us into a heated existential debate, and this is also true after the change of government that took place in Washington ….
The US are our closest ally outside Europe and I will do everything for it to remain like that, because it is in our mutual interest and … it is indispensable for peace and security around the globe…
It is absolutely clear that President Trump will keep the world in suspense in the coming years in the fields of energy, climate, trade, foreign and security policy. … He reiterated it yesterday.
We are able and will be dealing with this, without any excitement and indignation, but also without fake cosying up and telling them what they want to hear.
Germany’s Scholz and Ukraine’s Zelenskyy about to speak in Davos
German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos over the next hour.
You can find a live stream at the top of this page and I will also bring you all the news lines.
German reactions to Musk’s apparent Nazi salute
Kate Connolly
There have so far been muted reactions in Germany to Elon Musk’s apparent Nazi salute delivered at Trump’s inauguration (see 9:34am), which the tech billionaire has indirectly suggested has been deliberately misunderstood, Kate Connolly writes in from Berlin.
Some have called it an indisputable fascist gesture, others have urged caution saying Musk should be persuaded to offer his own explanation.
But Michel Friedman, a prominent German-French publicist and former deputy chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany has delivered an unequivocal condemnation of the greeting, describing it as a “disgrace”, and arguing in an interview with the daily Tagesspiegel, that by delivering the gesture Musk had shown that a “dangerous point for the entire free world” had been reached.
Friedman, who descends from a family of Polish Jews, hardly any of whom survived the Holocaust, said he had been shocked on watching the inauguration to see the gesture being made, adding that as far as he was concerned it was unambiguously the Nazi ‘Heil Hitler’ salute, despite attempts to downplay it.
“I thought to myself, the breaking of taboos is reaching a point that is dangerous for the entire free world. The brutalisation, the dehumanisation, Auschwitz, all of that is Hitler. A mass murderer, a warmonger, a person for whom people were nothing more than numbers – fair game, not worth mentioning.”
The gesture was a sign for Friedman of the extent to which “democracy in the US is in danger,” he said.
Almost all of Friedman’s family died in the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Only his parents and his grandmother were saved, thanks to the Sudeten German entrepreneur Oskar Schindler.
Musk made the gesture as a speaker on stage before Donald Trump’s arrival in Washington’s Capital One Arena yesterday. He heartily thanked Trump supporters before holding his right hand on his heart and stretching it in a sharp and quick upwards movement. Then he turned around and repeated the gesture in the other direction, saying: “My heart goes out to you”.
The billionaire later responded to criticisms of his behaviour on his social media platform X, saying that “the ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” adding a sleeping emoji at the end of his post.
Our Madrid correspondent Sam Jones reported earlier about the confusion caused in Spain by Trump’s incorrect claims that it belongs to the Brics group of countries (chiefly Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and could face 100% US tariffs on its products.
Asked by a reporter about low defence spending by some European NATO allies like Spain and France, Trump said for Spain it was “very low,” but then suggested the country was part of the Brics bloc, making the confused journalist go “what?!”.
“You know what a Brics nation is? You will figure it out,” he said.
He’s probably still trying to figure it out this morning.
Slovak government faces confidence vote – context
As reported earlier, I am keeping an eye on Slovakia today where opposition forces launched an attempt to dismiss the leftist-nationalist government of Robert Fico, accusing the prime minister of laying the groundwork to take the country out of the EU.
Fico has sought to maintain relations with Russia during the war in Ukraine, meeting with Vladimir Putin last month, and halted official military aid to Kyiv. He has also repeatedly criticised sanctions on Russia and escalated a rift with Kyiv after Russian gas supplies through Ukraine stopped at the end of 2024.
Despite growing concerns about his government’s foreign policy direction, Fico sparked further controversies by saying that Slovakia needed to prepare for “all possible crisis situations” which the EU could face in the short term, suggesting even a break-up of the bloc.
“This cannot be read in any other way than… what we had warned of: that the government of Smer is preparing the ground for leading Slovakia out of the European Union,” Michal Šimečka, leader of the Progressive Slovakia party, told parliament earlier today.
Reuters notes, however, that the opposition’s effort were likely to fail as the government’s slim majority in parliament was expected to back Fico.
I will bring you further updates on this during the day.
Trump’s Paris agreement withdrawal ‘truly unfortunate’ or even ‘fatal’, EU and Germany say
The EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has described Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement as “truly unfortunate” while warning of the “potentially catastrophic” reality of a warmer world.
In a statement, Hoekstra said:
It’s a truly unfortunate development that the world’s largest economy, and one of our closest allies in the fight against climate change, is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.
Despite this setback, we remain committed to working with the US and our international partners to address the pressing issue of climate change. The science is crystal clear: every incremental increase in global temperatures will come with enormous costs, economically, socially but also in human lives.
A planet with rising temperatures, more frequent natural disasters, and unpredictable weather patterns will be a costly, and potentially catastrophic, reality.
The Dutch commissioner represents the EU in UN climate talks and oversees the bloc’s emission reduction targets.
Earlier this morning, outgoing German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck described Trump’s decision as “fatal” and insisted Germany and Europe should continue on the path of expanding low-carbon energies.
“We have to bring our own technologies to the fore,” he told a Handelsblatt annual energy conference in Berlin.
Separately, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France and a senior official European Central Bank, said that the institution also “regrets” the announcement, but he accepted it was “not a surprise.”
Von der Leyen’s Davos speech – snap reaction
Jennifer Rankin
Ursula von der Leyen has said the Paris climate agreement “continues to be the best hope for all humanity” in a speech aimed at showcasing Europe’s alternative approach to Donald Trump’s nationalist transactional politics, our Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin writes in.
Speaking one day after Trump ordered the US to pull out of the landmark climate agreement, the head of the European Commission said all continents would have to speed up the transition towards net zero to “deal with the growing burden of climate change” as she referred to heatwaves across Asia, floods in Brazil and Indonesia, and wildfires in Canada, Greece and California.
Having had warm relations with Joe Biden, von der Leyen faces an uphill task dealing with the Trump administration, which scorns EU preferences for free trade and multilateralism, while cosying up to Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who is in conflict with Brussels over the rule of law.
But she also made overtures to the new administration, following Trump’s recent threat of “TARIFFS all the way!!!” if Europe failed to buy more American oil and gas.
Von der Leyen said Europe and the US did €1.5tn of trade, around 30% of the global total and “a lot is at stake for both sides”. She went on: “Our first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests and be ready to negotiate.”
This was von der Leyen’s first speech to Davos since starting a second five-year term as Commission president. How she responds to the climate crisis, handles the erratic US president and maintains support for Ukraine (see 11.34) will define her legacy.
While she promised to stay the course on climate action, the speech also focused on European competitiveness and her plans for removing what she called “unnecessary red tape”, specifically by “simplifying” rules on sustainable finance and due diligence.
Von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat, is under pressure from her own centre-right European People’s Party to go further, by rethinking elements of the Green deal agreed during her first mandate, such as fines on carmakers that fail to meet emission-reduction targets.
As of Monday von der Leyen had yet to fix a date to meet the president, according to her spokesperson.
EU officials have already been readying retaliatory tariffs should negotiations fail. In public officials hope for the best; in private they prepare for (what they see) as the worst.
Now for something lighter… If you found yourself a bit impatient at times during Trump’s 2,885-word inauguration speech last night – twice longer than the one he delivered in 2017 – you were not alone.
In an absolute classic of the genre, an interpreter working for the German TV channel phoenix seemingly forgot to switch his microphone off as he turned to the producer and asked, “how long do you want to stay on this shit?”.
When asked about the incident by the German news agency dpa, the broadcaster said it was a “technical glitch,” and that comments did not reflect its view on Trump’s speech.
Obviously not.
We stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes, von der Leyen says
In the last few minutes, von der Leyen has been speaking about what will be the EU’s position on Ukraine given potential changes in the US policy under Trump.
This is what she said:
I think we should never forget where it all started. Ukraine is a sovereign country, and it determined its own future by asking for accession to the EU. That’s where it all started. The response was an invasion by its neighbour, Russia.
We should also never forget … it is never only about the security of Ukraine, but about European security.
No one wants more peace than the people of Ukraine. But what they want is a just and lasting peace. What they do not want is a frozen conflict that erupts again a little later.
We will continue to support it, whatever happens next. For us, it’s important that Ukraine stays an independent country and that it is Ukraine that decides on its own territory.
We stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Europe enters ‘new era of harsh geostrategic competition’ under Trump, needs to avoid ‘a global race to the bottom’
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned in her Davos speech just now that Europe has entered a new era of harsh geostrategic competition and will have to work together to avoid a global race to the bottom.
She added that the use of sanctions, export controls and tariffs was likely to increase and that for Europe to sustain its growth in the next quarter of the century, it must shift gears.
But she also insisted that despite that challenging environment, “Europe is open for business” and constructive relations with other countries, including China and India.
“We are not in a race against each other, but we are in a race against time. … We need to seek cooperation with our like-minded longtime allies, but also with any country that we have shared interests with,” she said.
“While some in Europe may not like this new reality, we are ready to deal with it. Our values will not change. But to defend these values in this changing world, we must change the way we act, and look for opportunities wherever they arise,” she said.
In a clear response to Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, von der Leyen also said the deal “continues to be the best hope of all humanity.”
So Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming,” she said.
Now for something different: The future of Greenland has unexpectedly become a talking point in the last few weeks after Trump has said he wants it to become a part of the US, refusing to rule out military or economic power over a NATO ally, Denmark.
Strategically positioned between the US and Russia, Greenland is viewed as increasingly important for defence and is emerging as a geopolitical battleground as the climate crises worsens. As well as oil and gas, Greenland’s supply of multiple in-demand raw materials for green technology is also attracting interest from around the world.
As I reported earlier (9:10am), much to the despair of Danish diplomats, Trump talked about this issue again last night, saying “Greenland is a wonderful place,” and that he was sure that “Denmark will come along”.
But Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen had already told the then-incoming US president last week it was up to Greenland to decide its own future. Even the Danish king made a pointed reference to Greenland in his New Year’s speech.
Over the weekend, the country’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was reported by the Danish media as warning that if Trump confirms his intentions after taking the office, “then we have the most serious foreign policy crisis we have had in Denmark in many, many generations.”
Oh, well.
Danish newspaper Politiken tried to look for positives in their morning newsletter today as it said that “no American troops have not moved in to occupy Nuuk – yet.”
But it is fair to say, they were not reassured at all, even as some Trump supporters urged their reporter in Washington to simply “sell Greenland and make money”.
If you missed it over the weekend, our Nordic correspondent Miranda Bryant went to the island and talked to its residents about what they make of all of this.
Happening elsewhere…
In the course of the day, I will also be tracking what is happening at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which properly gets underway today.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (10:50am CET), German chancellor Olaf Scholz (2pm CET), and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (2.30pm CET) will all speak today.
I will be also keeping an eye on the Slovak parliament as they discuss a confidence motion against Robert Fico’s government brought by opposition parties in protest at the government’s shifting course in foreign policy and perceived failures to address domestic issues.
Earlier this month, the country saw public protests accusing Fico of dragging the country towards Russia after he met Vladimir Putin last month amid a gas dispute with Ukraine.
Let’s see what happens here.
Rest assured that we will be covering all key events in the build up to next month’s elections in Germany in our Europe Live blogs here, but if you want to keep track of how the polls look at any given moment, you can use (and bookmark for later!) our new fancy tracker available here:
Speaking about Elon Musk’s X and other social media platforms, the European Parliament has been discussing their impact on European democracy for the last hour at its plenary in Strasbourg, France.
Opening the debate, Polish EU minister Adam Szłapka said that he was troubled about “increasing instances of interference in political processes in the EU that took place on social media,” as he warned about “rising geopolitical tensions, the erosion of rules-based order, and hybrid attacks on European democracy and security.”
The EU digital commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, also spoke about how democracies “face an increased challenge from interference, and indeed, we have seen that social media is one of the vehicles used,” talking about a range of platforms being scrutinised under the bloc’s Digital Services Act.
She specifically mentioned the commission’s investigation into Elon Musk’s X. The commission stepped up its investigation last week after it told the company that it wanted to see internal documentations about its “recommender system” and any recent changes made to it.
It has also issued a “retention order” obliging the platform to preserve internal documents and information regarding future changes to the design and functioning of the recommender algorithm.
“The compliance teams are working at full speed,” she said.
The issue is back at the forefront of public debate after Elon Musk’s repeated public endorsements of far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in Germany ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections in the country, including during a controversial live talk on his social media platform X.
Spanish deputy prime minister quits Elon Musk’s X over his apparent Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration
Sam Jones
Spain’s labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that she has stopped using X following Elon Musk’s apparent Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Sam Jones reports from Madrid.
In a post on Bluesky, Díaz wrote:
For months now, Elon Musk has been using X for political ends. It has stopped being a tool for communication, or a social network, and has become a propaganda mechanism that uses its algorithm to favour some ideas over others and, by doing so, affect public opinion.”
“Last night, the entire planet could see Elon Musk emulating the Nazi salute in the context of Donald Trump’s inauguration. It was a very stark image that has led me to make a decision I’ve been considering for months … From now on, I will not be using my [X] account.
Díaz’s announcement came hours after Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged Europe to resist a big tech “class” trying to influence western governments and public debate through its “absolute power over social media”.
On Monday, Sánchez told a conference on artificial intelligence: “Faced with this we have to fight back and we must put forward alternatives … Europe must stand up to this threat and defend democracy.”
Elsewhere in Spain, the media have noted that Trump yesterday incorrectly claimed that Spain is among the BRICS nations (chiefly Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and could face 100% US tariffs on its products.
European reactions of note
Here are some of the key reactions to Trump from around Europe.
You will see a full range of emotions on display, from carefully picked diplomatic language, all the way to full ecstasy in the case of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán…
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
I congratulate President Trump and the American people on the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States. Today is a day of change and also a day of hope for the resolution of many problems, including global challenges.
President Trump is always decisive, and the peace through strength policy he announced provides an opportunity to strengthen American leadership and achieve a long-term and just peace, which is the top priority.
This century is being shaped right now, and we must all work together to ensure that it is a great and successful century for democracies, not those who want us to fail.
We wish you success, President Trump! We look forward to active and mutually beneficial cooperation. We are stronger together, and we can provide greater security, stability, and economic growth to the world and our two nations.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni (who was the only European head of government actually present there and clearly enjoyed the party):
“I am certain that the friendship between our nations and the values that unite us will continue to strengthen the cooperation between Italy and the USA … Italy will always be committed to consolidating the dialogue between the United States and Europe, as an essential pillar for the stability and growth of our communities.”
Germany’s prime minister Olaf Scholz:
Today President Donald Trump takes office. Congratulations! The U.S. is our closest ally and the aim of our policy is always a good transatlantic relationship. The EU, with 27 members and more than 400 million people, is a strong union.”
France’s president Emmanuel Macron called on Europe Monday to “wake up” and spend more on defence in order to reduce its reliance on the United States for its security, AP reports.
“What will we do in Europe tomorrow if our American ally withdraws its warships from the Mediterranean? If they send their fighter jets from the Atlantic to the Pacific?” he asked.
And finally… Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, speaking at a conference in Budapest:
“Only a few hours and even the sun will shine differently in Brussels. A new president in the U.S., a large faction of Patriots in Brussels, great enthusiasm. So the great attack can start. Hereby I launch the second phase of the offensive that aims to occupy Brussels.
There is a really unusual video accompanying his comments. You can watch it here, if you really, really want to, but be warned that it ends on a really weird shot of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ringing a reception bell. You have been warned.
If you need more reactions, here’s a round up from our correspondents:
Catch up on Trump’s comments on European issues
If you slept soundly through the night, as I hope you did, here’s all you need to know to catch up on events in the US.
Here’s our first take on Trump’s inauguration.
The United States was launched on a fresh course of disruption and division on Monday as Donald Trump was sworn in as its 47th president, promising a blitz of executive orders, a radical shake-up of the global order and a “golden age of America”.
Read it here:
… and here are some of the key quotes from Trump on topics of particular importance to Europe:
On Ukraine and Russia: “He [Russia’s Vladimir Putin] should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal. … I think Russia’s going to be in big trouble. … I got along with him great, I would hope he wants to make a deal.”
“He can’t be thrilled he’s not doing so well. I mean, he’s grinding it out, but most people thought that war would have been over in about one week, and now you’re into three years, right?”
On the Paris climate agreement: “I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Accord rip-off. … The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”
Under the accord’s rules, the United States will formally exit in one year.
On Greenland: “Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security. I’m sure that Denmark will come along. It’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it. The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark, as you know. I think they are happy with us. … We will see what happens. It’s necessary, not for us, but for international security. You have Russian boats, China boats all over the place, warships. They can’t maintain it.”
Opening summary
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, 21 January 2025. Donald J. Trump is the US President, and the world is still spinning. I checked.
European leaders were busy last night sending carbon copy messages of congratulations, hailing the “longstanding,” “special” and “strategic” relationship their country (and only their country, of course) have with the US, and their personal connection with the new US president. If you read one of them, you read them all.
Some even posted pictures from their previous meetings with Trump to make it look as if they met in Washington last night (I see you Giorgia Meloni.)
But one well-wisher inadvertently said the quiet part out loud.
Szymon Hołownia, the speaker of the Polish parliament, made some effort to write a social media post in English: “Welcome President Trump. We are ready to cooperate, discuss and do business together.”
But then, in Polish, he wearily added: “And may God watch over us all.”
Welcome to our live coverage of European politics. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected]. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
