The Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) has said in an interview that Europe must make it clear to the American President Donald Trump that enough is enough. Mr De Wever believes that “The more you indulgent him, the more brazen he becomes.” Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Belgian PM also stressed the need for the EU to become more competitive.
Belgian PM says that Europe must make it clear to President Trump that enough is enough
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Currently in Davos with (amongst others) King Filip, Mr De Wever will rub shoulders with numerous world leaders during the coming days. On Tuesday the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the French President Emmanuel Macron will address the World Economic Forum and on Wednesday it will be the turn of the US President Donald Trump.
Mr De Wever is due to meet the President Trump on Wednesday together with King Filip and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. “Assuming that it goes ahead, because you never know with Trump”, the Belgian PM said.
Make Europe competitive again
Mr Wever believes that the priority for the EU must be to strengthen its single market and ensure that it becomes competitive again. At the same time it should be more ambitious and forge alliances with other countries.
"We have to arm ourselves. The European Council must drive the agenda.”
While in Davos, Mr De Wever will meet representatives from French AI company Mistral, the CEO of Apple Tim Cook and business leaders from the chemical, pharma and energy industries. He hopes to hear from them firsthand what is preventing companies from investing in Belgium. The Prime Minister believes that the Danish company Vioneo’s failure to go ahead with a planned 1.5-billion-euro investment in a chemicals plant at the port of Antwerp should be seen as a warning. Vioneo, a subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk decided to build the new factory in China due to better access to green methanol and lower overall costs there.
“It is a leading investment in sustainable chemistry. Isn’t this what Europe has been gunning for in recent years. If we cannot bring in even that kind of transformative investment, we have a huge problem.”