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Brussels, my love? The EU mood on Trump: Keep calm and carry on

Méabh Mc Mahon with MEPs Abir Al-Sahlani, Virginijus Sinkevičius and Mika Aaltola in Strasbourg.
Méabh Mc Mahon with MEPs Abir Al-Sahlani, Virginijus Sinkevičius and Mika Aaltola in Strasbourg. Copyright Euronews
Copyright Euronews
By Méabh Mc Mahon
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This week, two very different speeches from two very different Donalds suggest the EU should fasten its seatbelt for a turbulent few years.

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This week, we are joined by three MEPs: Finland's Mika Aaltola of the European People's Party, Swedish liberal Abir Al-Sahlani, and former Lithuanian Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, from the Greens.

The panel reacted to the inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th president of the United States. Though foreign leaders aren’t usually invited to the ceremony, a number of European far-right politicians attended this time round.

Trump has been very clear about how he feels about Brussels, and this week accused the EU of treating the US "very badly, very unfairly".

Abir Al-Sahlani expressed her worries about what she calls "bro-ligarchs". From Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg, she is concerned about the impact that "rich boys" could have on world order.

But Trump wasn't the only Donald making headlines this week. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who currently holds the EU Council's rotating presidency, was in Strasbourg to tell MEPs that Europe is already great, and always has been.

That bullish message was tempered by his warning that the continent needs to prepare for a potential invasion, by putting security first, and tackling climate change second.

Mika Aaltola called it a "good speech".

Tusk "was proud about Europe. It was almost Trumpian in the terms. We have to be confident and we have to assert that confidence as well", Aaltola said.

"If you are not a military power, then you don't then you don't wield that big stick, and nobody is going to listen to you", he added.

Al-Sahlaini applauded Tusk's powers of moderation.

"He could shut up the far right who were constantly hating on the EU, on our common values, and he could just snap them off," she said.

Virginijus Sinkevičius revealed himself as a Tusk fan, citing the Polish premier's illustrious CV.

"But when you talk about the green deal, I think it can be renamed", said Sinkevičius, as the focus should be on goals and not branding.

Watch 'Brussels, my love?' in the player above.

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