Løkke looks back on EU's migrant crisis: We cannot jump around according to Trump's time and again

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) has not slept much the past week. He has been busy.

But when he has slept, he has slept without waking up drenched, after what has been called a nightmare scenario for the EU, where the Americans have sent shockwaves through Europe multiple times.

- I haven't slept much, so when I sleep, I sleep. I think that, in general, I have always been good at that.

- But of course, that's not to downplay the situation, says Lars Løkke Rasmussen, looking back on a week where the Americans signaled that they would initiate peace talks with the Russians without Ukraine and the EU, and where the American vice president delivered a decisive song to the EU on security at the Munich Security Conference.

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'Time to step up'

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This underscores, according to Løkke, that the European countries must be able to do much more on their own, he says in an interview with DR's political podcast Slotsholmen (https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/slotsholmen/slotsholmen-2025/slotsholmen-mareridtsuge-for-eu-11802543108 ).

- A lot of this could happen. We also talked about it before the American election: Regardless of who sits in the White House, there are some trends in the time with an America that is changing, a world that is changing. China is more important to the USA than Europe is to the USA. We need to do something more on our own, says Løkke.

- But there have been sent - to say it diplomatically - some somewhat uncertain signals about where America really is in terms of a long-term solution to the Ukraine conflict.

One should not take everything Trump literally, but we must take him very seriously, says Løkke. (Photo: © Nathan Howard, Ritzau Scanpix)

This shows, according to Løkke, the need to "step up" among EU countries, and he points to the fact that the government has just set aside 50 billion kroner, which will be used to build the military's combat power faster.

It is also a signal to the rest of Europe about finding the purse open if the EU is not to be left on the platform when it comes to having influence on the conflict in Ukraine.

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Can't meet the USA with apathy

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- Already today, Europe is a larger supplier to Ukraine than the USA is. So it's not a matter of taking it easy if there is a new American approach, but it's just a matter of saying that it must not be a matter of falling on our knees and saying that everything is lost.

- So it's time to step up. But it's clear that if Europe meets flagging American signals with apathy, the world does not look good.

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> If Europe meets flagging American signals with apathy, the world does not look good.

> Lars Løkke Rasmussen, foreign minister, Moderates

Lars Løkke Rasmussen interprets the messages from the Americans in relation to peace talks about Ukraine as a test of Putin - at least if he is to be optimistic.

- So, is Putin at something with a negotiating table, and what is the given fall? And if not, should one have another strategy for Putin, says Løkke, who warns against changing course from the European perspective every time there is a message from Trump.

- We can't hop around from time to time, and every morning we wake up and act in relation to something or other that Trump writes on social media. We are forced to insist on doing our homework, says Løkke, who points out that it is unavoidable to continue supporting Ukraine while Denmark and Europe build up their defense capacity.

You have previously said that one should take Trump seriously, but not necessarily literally. Does the past week's events mean that we must actually take Trump both seriously and literally?

- I have tried to say that I don't think that one should translate every single word that comes out of Trump into what will happen tomorrow. But one must take him very seriously, says Løkke, who received good advice from someone he met at the Munich Security Conference:

- There was one who said to me: 'Don't listen to the worst thing and complain about it, listen to what could be the solutions, and try to assist them in achieving them'. So, stop taking everything negatively and complaining, and instead try to think about how one can turn it into something more constructive, and then see if one can be part of giving him the 'win'. And that's what I think we are forced to set ourselves up for, says Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

You can listen to the entire interview with Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Slotsholmen, where you also get an analysis of the crisis meeting in Paris, which Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen attended.

The interview with Lars Løkke Rasmussen was recorded on Wednesday the 19th of February.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen in the Slotsholmen studio at Christiansborg.

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