Europe

TITLE PLACEHOLDER | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics (this week from Stockholm).

Will recent drone attacks in Moscow lead to Russian escalation in Ukraine?

I think there's nervousness in Moscow. The drone attacks have been, Putin was trying to play down. He couldn't do very much else. He said our defenses are working, but nothing was perfect. I think there's also nervousness on what might happen on the battlefront. What are Ukrainians up to? Will there be some sort of success in some sort of Ukrainian offensive? A nervous mood, we don't know. The inclination of Putin is always to escalate whenever he can.

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Expect another Erdogan presidency for Turkey | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective from Stockholm, Sweden.

How was the outcome of the Turkish election?

Well, we haven't seen the end of it, but the first round, which was not decisive concerning the presidency. Erdogan just short of 50%, but his coalition did capture the majority in parliament and that will be decisive advantage when it goes to the second round for the presidency on May 28th. Erdogan managed to mobilize the nationalists more conservative, more sort of proud Turkish, somewhat more rural Turks against the more modern, Western, younger. We'll see. But in all likelihood, May 28th for Erdogan.

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Kremlin drone attack a huge embarrassment for Putin | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

What's the importance of the upcoming elections in Turkey on May the 14th? What happened with the drone attack on the Kremlin? Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics (this week from Arizona.)

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Navigating Ukraine's path to NATO membership | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

Does Ukraine belong in NATO, as Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said when he visited Kyiv the other day?

Yup, that's certainly the case, the one way or the other. Although, I think there will be some difficulties forging a consensus on exactly what that means at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July. Some of the Central Europeans and the Ukrainians are pressing for full membership as soon as possible. Others, the US and others, are somewhat more reluctant and would like to have a step-by-step.

What are the implications of the meltdown in Sudan for Europe?

Well, evacuating diplomats, as has been done with success is one thing but it's hardly a solution. We have faced a period of prolonged instability in the third largest country of Africa. That sort of makes Europe worried about the entire belt of instability across the Sahara, along the Sahara even more profound, with also the risk of the Russians starting to meddle in there, as well.

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US intel leak could cause problems in Putin's Russia | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Washington, DC.

What's been the fallout from President Macron's visit to China?

Confusion might perhaps be the most diplomatic way of phrasing it. Because whatever he meant to say, he phrased it in such a way that it gave rise to a lot of misunderstanding. It was interpreted, not least on this side of the Atlantic, as a fundamentally different policy on Taiwan. That is not the case. We have fundamentally the same policy in Europe and the US on Taiwan, the One-China policy, not support for Taiwan independence, strong support for Taiwan's democracy, and a resolute opposition to any attempts at changing the status quo by force. That would have been a better way of phrasing it from President Macron side.

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Macron's China visit hasn't moved Xi on Ukraine | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Tabiano Castello, Italy.

What's the fallout from President Macron's visit to China?

That remains to be seen. There is still no sign, really, of him managing to move Xi Jinping on the issue of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. President Xi has not yet made that telephone call to President Zelensky that he said he was going to do. He says he's going to do it at some point in time. But whether some point in time is tomorrow or one year from now is left open, so remains to be seen.

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Sweden's NATO bid hostage in Erdoğan reelection effort | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective from Stockholm, Sweden.

How is the process of accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO going?

Well, it's green light for Finland. After ratification by Hungary and Turkey, they've been playing some games, but now green light. Good, excellent. Sweden, they are still holding out. I think President Erdoğan sees this as an asset in his election campaign. There have been some issues with Sweden. I think they have been sorted out, but now it's a question of the politics of Turkey. President Erdoğan, of course, faces an extremely critical election May 14, first round his entire regime's up for grab, and he's holding Sweden hostage in a way that is not entirely good for the security of Europe.

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