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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: Valdu Stanbrovski's is joining us now here in our Washington,

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Speaker 2: DC studio on Bloomberg Television and Radio. He is the

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Speaker 2: European Commission Executive Vice President for an Economy that Works

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Speaker 2: for people. Sir, thank you so much for being here

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Speaker 2: with us today. If we could first begin, given the

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Speaker 2: developments overnight in the Middle East, knowing that you primarily

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Speaker 2: look at the economy, how concerned are you about possible

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Speaker 2: escalation from here and the impact that that could have

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Speaker 2: on energy prices, which we know has been highly problematic

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Speaker 2: for the European economy in years past.

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, we see that the world economy

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Speaker 3: is proving to be resilient despite a difficult situation and

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Speaker 3: a different geopolitical tensions and conflicts we are currently experiencing.

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Speaker 3: And also the impact on energy prices so far has

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Speaker 3: been quite limited. Obviously, we need to monitor closely all

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Speaker 3: of those developments, but the assessment is that the risks

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Speaker 3: to the economic outlook are now broadly balanced.

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Speaker 1: You've been in Washington here meeting with lawmakers about the

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Speaker 1: big story that we've been talking about here for months.

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Speaker 1: Mister Executive Vice President, and just today we saw an

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Speaker 1: important procedural vote pass for funding for Ukraine, Israel and

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Speaker 1: the Indo Pack region. You're obviously very concerned about funding

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Speaker 1: for Ukraine. What did you tell lawmakers when you met

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Speaker 1: with him.

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Speaker 3: Well, indeed, that was my main message in the meetings

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Speaker 3: on the hill, and basically I was emphasizing that from

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Speaker 3: the EU side, we are doing a lot to provide

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Speaker 3: financial but also military and other kind of support to Ukraine.

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Speaker 3: So far, we have provided support of around one hundred

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Speaker 3: billion euros. We know how fifty billion euro Ukraine facility

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Speaker 3: for the four years twenty twenty four to twenty twenty seven.

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Speaker 3: We're already disbursing from this facility. So it's important that

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Speaker 3: also other international donors and first and foremost US come

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Speaker 3: also with their contribution. And therefore I very much look

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Speaker 3: forward for tomorrow's votes and hopefully this Ukraine support is

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Speaker 3: being approved because of what we see that in the

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Speaker 3: last months, actually the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating for

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Speaker 3: the lack, especially of military support. We see it both

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Speaker 3: at the front line and we see it with the

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Speaker 3: daily shellings of Ukrainian city's residential areas, critical infrastructure so

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Speaker 3: this support is very much needed. I would say the

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Speaker 3: collective West has all the necessary resources to stop Russian

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Speaker 3: not to allow this showing to take a place. And

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Speaker 3: so hopefully this is a period of on decision and

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Speaker 3: dittering is coming to the end and we will be

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Speaker 3: able to come with a strong and firm response to

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Speaker 3: to Russia and also to other autocrats around the world,

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Speaker 3: because it's also not only about Ukraine, it's about our

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Speaker 3: collective security.

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Speaker 2: Well, sir, as you outline there the amount that Europe

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Speaker 2: already has contributed to the Ukrainian cause, it's worth pointing

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Speaker 2: out that there is at least a faction of thought

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Speaker 2: here in the United States that thinks Europe is not

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Speaker 2: caring as much weight as it should be. One of

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Speaker 2: them is the presumptive Republican nominee. Former President Donald Trump,

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Speaker 2: posted on social media yesterday effectively to summarize his words,

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Speaker 2: saying that Ukrainian survival is more important to Europe than

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Speaker 2: it is to the US. So why is Europe not

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Speaker 2: giving more money to help Ukraine? Why can't it equalize

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Speaker 2: or match the money? This is a quote put in

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Speaker 2: by the United States of America. Is there more that

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Speaker 2: Europe could be doing, sir. I wonder what your response

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Speaker 2: would be to Donald Trump.

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, acts has never been the strong

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Speaker 3: side of Donald Trump, and it's also, unfortunately this time

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Speaker 3: the case. So that's why I'm emphasizing so much. The

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Speaker 3: financial aid EU has already provided, which is one hundred

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Speaker 3: billion euros in all kinds of support, the Ukraine facility

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Speaker 3: which is already in place of fifty billion euros. So

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Speaker 3: the fact is that EU is the largest donor to Ukraine,

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Speaker 3: and we are willing to continue this way because after all,

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Speaker 3: indeed it's a war on Ukrainian, on European continent. But

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Speaker 3: of course it also requires solidarity from the broader democratic world,

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Speaker 3: and with EU and US being strategic allies, US support

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Speaker 3: is not only financially very important, but also as a

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Speaker 3: signal of a West being united against this Russian aggression.

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Speaker 1: Crystnald Trump's view reflects the view of some Republican members

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Speaker 1: in the House were voting against this package. I wonder

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Speaker 1: when you met with lawmakers this week, what was your reception.

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Speaker 1: Did you hear pushback, did you hear criticism or were

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Speaker 1: you well received with the lawmakers you met?

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Speaker 3: Well, I would say you were definitely worrying or on

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Speaker 3: this topic. But my point was really to make the

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Speaker 3: case why it's important not only for Ukraine but for

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Speaker 3: entire global security architecture because what we are seeing that

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Speaker 3: also other autocrats are seeing if the West is not

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Speaker 3: even able to contain Russia, so they're also having ideas,

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Speaker 3: and the recent Iran attack against Israel is just another

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Speaker 3: manifestation of this point of few it's important to stay

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Speaker 3: firm and determined. Another one, indeed, to make this point

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Speaker 3: on the EU's contribution so far, to really show that

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Speaker 3: EU is doing a lot. EU is actually doing more

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Speaker 3: than the United States. We're happy to continue to do so,

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Speaker 3: but everyone has to contribute well.

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Speaker 2: Of course, your conversations here in Washington have not just

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Speaker 2: been limited to lawmakers. You are also here while the

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Speaker 2: IMF World Bank meetings are underway, and I wonder from

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Speaker 2: an economic lens, what you are hearing in the messaging

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Speaker 2: and what message you are providing about the state of

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Speaker 2: the European economy right now, Knowing that for now policy

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Speaker 2: is still tight, there's questions around when it will ease

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Speaker 2: and where the economy will be depending on when that

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Speaker 2: easing actually happens. How are you thinking about the outlook

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Speaker 2: for Europe. As the IMF essentially said, there could be

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Speaker 2: a soft landing, but there are risks here.

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Speaker 3: Well. Indeed, as I was saying before, actually is the

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Speaker 3: global economy is proving resilient to BOSS current geopolitical tensions

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Speaker 3: and also to the process of this inflation, which we

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Speaker 3: know how to go through. So the expectations for a

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Speaker 3: global gross is of three point two percent of BOSS

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Speaker 3: this year and next. That's a IMFs world economic outlook.

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Speaker 3: And as a reguards the EU, we are expecting zero

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Speaker 3: point nine percent growth this year one point seven percent

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Speaker 3: growth next year. It's somewhat subdued growth right now, one

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Speaker 3: could say. But at the same time, despite a war

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Speaker 3: on Zeroean continent, despite as a need to tame high inflation,

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Speaker 3: different disruptions we are facing, EU's economy is nevertheless growing.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you about another foreign policy matter

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Speaker 1: that you've been concerned with, and that's China supplying components

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Speaker 1: to Russia and potentially evading sanctions. There's an economic element

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Speaker 1: to this, there's obviously a geopolitical element to it. How

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Speaker 1: big of a problem is this becoming?

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Speaker 3: Well, that's certainly a cause of concern and the two

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Speaker 3: elements one is circumvention of sanctions, but also another is

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Speaker 3: innocence backfilling of the sanctions, and we are engaged with

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Speaker 3: China on both of those elements. So in a sense,

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Speaker 3: what we are doing we how what we call a

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Speaker 3: high priority Battlefield items list, meaning items which we are

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Speaker 3: finding in Ukrainian battlefields in Russian military equipment. We are

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Speaker 3: tracing the origin of these different kind of components. It's

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Speaker 3: a lethal weaponry, well yes, it's Russian military weaponry which

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Speaker 3: is being found on Ukrainian battlefields. And because it's not

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Speaker 3: only about weapons deliveries, there's also many dual use components

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Speaker 3: if we talk about semiconductors, all kind of other components.

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Speaker 3: So we're tracing it back were it actually origins. Because

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Speaker 3: we must face there's also still quite a few of

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Speaker 3: those components of Western origin which are reaching Russia. So

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Speaker 3: we also need to work with our own companies, both

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Speaker 3: in the U and US, making sure that they are

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Speaker 3: not engaged in those sanction circumventions. And in the U

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Speaker 3: we also have a possibility actually to go after the

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Speaker 3: companies which are knowingly in engaging in these kind of activities.

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Speaker 3: We are putting also requirements on no result to Russia

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Speaker 3: on exports of use items UH, and we're actually coordinating

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Speaker 3: this work quite a lot with US. We recently also

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Speaker 3: put certain measures against Chinese and Hong Kong companies which

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Speaker 3: are involved in sanctions circumvention by prohibiting EU companies to

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Speaker 3: do any business with them. So there are things which

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Speaker 3: we can do, and it's clear as we are now

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Speaker 3: putting strict sanctions against Russia, EU, US other players, Russia

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Speaker 3: is looking at a ways to still convince them. So

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Speaker 3: we need to stay alert, follow follow the patterns and

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Speaker 3: to the extent possible closes, circumvention and possible Loopholese.

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Speaker 1: Faldest Tom Bravs guests with a view from the European Commission.

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Speaker 1: We appreciate you making us part of your week here

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Speaker 1: in Washington, and I hope the spring meetings of the

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Speaker 1: IMF continue well for you. Thanks for talking with us

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Speaker 1: on Bloomberg