Ondřej Kolář: Trump Has Completely Miscalculated, Zelensky Is Holding Ace

Europe has courage and determination.

What lessons can Belarusians learn from the anti-Soviet resistance in Czechoslovakia? How can Europe counter hybrid attacks from Russia? Czech MEP Ondřej Kolář answered these questions for the website Charter97.org.

— Elon Musk has unexpectedly supported AfD in recent elections in Germany - a far-right party with alleged links to neo-Nazi circles. Do you expect future meddling by Elon Musk into European affairs?

— I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again. Elon Musk has, in my view, gone nuts - so to speak. He behaves like he suffers from Messiah complex. The fact that he is openly turning towards the extreme right is quite clear now. Nobody will have the power to stop Elon Musk from interfering in other countries' affairs. He is the owner of one of the biggest and influential social networks. He doesn't hide that he is manipulating algorithms in order to achieve more audience. I think it is not about what he decides to do, but whether we let him.

— What should be done about it?

— I think that Elon Musk didn't help AfD at all. Friedrich Merz found out that he had to reply to this during the campaign and improved his rhetorics in order to steer people away from the far right, to give them confidence that the moderate right, conservatives and people gathered around the center are the ones that they should follow rather than the extremists. I think that this is something that we all have to bear in mind. How the Brits say: keep calm and carry on.

But this is I would say a short-term thing. In the long term, we have to improve media literacy in the society. People are very easily swayed now for disinformation narratives which actors like Musk and Trump are very effective in spreading. The more educated you are in consuming media, the more resistant you are to these things.

— At one of your recent speeches you told, "We are at hybrid war with Russia". Why do you think the European Union is at hybrid war with Russia?

— The question should be why somebody thinks that we are not. There is a lot of evidence of Russia actually fighting a hybrid war against Europe. If you look at all the activities, you see concrete actions across Europe which have been done under the radar. Russians have blown up ammunition depot in the Czech Republic in 2014. The fire in the IKEA shop in Lithuania was also done by Russians. You can see the Russian ships disrupting undersea cables. You can see an increased activity of Russian Air Force flying through international airspace and crossing into NATO airspace.

Apart from this, there are all the influence activities on the internet. Russians use the fact that part of Europe was under their domain for half a century. They know very well what to use and abuse in each country that was part of Soviet bloc in the past. They use different narratives in the Czech Republic, in Poland, in the Baltic countries, in the Balkans.

Speaking of Balkans, look at what is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country, which is aspiring to become part of the European Union, but the president of one of its entities, the Republica Srpska, Milorad Dodik is now openly calling Russia for help. He has met Putin three times since 2022. He says that Russia should veto the continuation of the EUFOR peacekeeping forces in Bosnia — and Bosnia has been kept in peace for 30 years only thanks to this. I would say it is an operation out of a textbook on hybrid warfare.

All this brings me to my conclusion, which I make, that Russia is actually fighting a hybrid war against us and using all the tools that it has available to weaken us.

— If Russia is waging a hybrid war against the EU, what the EU should do about this?

— If the public is massaged every day by anti-European narratives that are coming from the Kremlin, it's not enough to just tell the truth. You have to have instruments which actually prevent these things into entering your space.

Media literacy is one of the key things, starting with small children to teach them how to consume all the media content. It's not like in the past when people would buy newspaper in the morning, read the news that was from yesterday and then turn on the TV in the evening and watch the news about what happened that day. Now you get a newsfeed of what's going on throughout the whole day. There are so many media outlets that present just one opinion. They don't quote any opposing opinions, don't show what the sources of their information are, and it is all based on conspiracies. Someone doesn't take this as a relevant source, but a lot of people do. And that I think this is the problem.

We have to start with media literacy. We have to admit that such things like disinformation exist and then we can start building strategies against them. I know it will take time, but that will - among other things - allow us to teach people about the true essence of freedom of speech, which many see as something sacred today. Yet it is the same as any other freedom and same rules and principles apply to it - my freedom ends where someone elses´s freedom begins.

— According to a KGB defector, in order for a subversion to be effective, the receptive side has to be ready to take in this disinformation.

— I'll give an example of Georgia. We failed there. We didn't expect that Russia would take what it wanted. That it would use political instruments and push us out - all due our inactivity.

After the elections, the Georgian president was calling upon Europe for help to stand behind freedom-loving Georgians. And all that we could do was produce a resolution, which was saying that we stand behind Georgia. The only person from the EU who traveled to Tbilisi was Viktor Orbán, who wasn't traveling there to support the demonstrations and the president. He was there to congratulate the Georgian dream on falsifying the elections.

We allowed that. Instead of having the president of the commission or some high-ranking official from the EU traveling to Tbilisi to support the president and stand aside her in front of the demonstrating crowds and tell them, "Mr. Orbán is here on vacation. Don't take him seriously. I'm the one speaking for Europe. You have our support". This didn't happen — that's how we failed them.

We have to rethink our approach to both inside into the EU and also outside. If we want to be taken seriously, then we cannot just say that we don't have any instruments and we don't know how to tackle these obstructions. So, to answer your question: In Georgia, society was more receptive to the Russian narrative, and we failed to strengthen the European one. We should not repeat this mistake in the Balkans or anywhere else.

— Let's speak about Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Should the EU have a say in the peace negotiations?

— Definitely. I think, it should, and it must. If you listen to what Donald Trump is saying, that Europe will not be invited to the negotiations, but then it will have to take care of everything that will be negotiated, it is unacceptable. If we are the ones who will oversee and take care of the peace in Ukraine and of its future development, then we must be part of the negotiations. Otherwise, it is about us without us. Europe cannot accept this, because if it did, then it would push itself to a side and admit that it shouldn't be taken seriously. We just cannot afford that. We must play a serious part. It will cost us money and effort. If we want to succeed and want to be taken seriously by the Ukrainians whom we are supposed to help, then we must show that we are strong.

If we show weakness, why should Russia respect us, why should they respect any treaty that Europe would be the safeguard? Ukraine doesn't need a weak safeguard. They need as strong a safeguard as possible.

— Does the EU have the capacity to support Ukraine on its own, without the US?

I'm convinced it does. The European Union is one of the strongest economies in the world. If you take into account the UK and Norway, then we do have the needed wealth and the capabilities. We have the knowledge and the experience. We just lack the courage. So, we must find the courage. Once we find the courage, we are fine. We are on a good way because finally we have come to a realization that we don't have to put ourselves into position when we are blackmailed by people like Viktor Orbán or Robert Fico. We found other ways, creating the coalitions of the willing. One way to overcome the deliberate efforts to hinder the EU's ability to act is to eliminate the right to veto. This has been used against us, and it’s time to get over it.

When the United States said that they would stop financing Radio Free Europe, we said, "OK. Let's create a new coalition of the willing that will support Radio Free Europe and safeguard its continuation". We have found a way how to do it. We don't need Orbán anymore. It's all about courage and determination, I think.

— Speaking about this situation when the US stopped financing Prague-based Radio Free Europe, how does it make you feel? What do you see things to come?

— We cannot await anything positive from Donald Trump. I feel sort of pity for my colleagues here in the European Parliament and back home in the Czech Republic who were saying that Donald Trump was a victory for Europe — no, it is not. The only victory for Europe is that Europe has come to a realization that it has to stand on its own legs and play its own strong part.

It is a paradox that Donald Trump is actually making Europe strong and great again, not America. Donald Trump has this strange feeling that by isolating the United States, he will achieve something or make the United States stronger. It never worked in the past. Isolationism was never the way for the United States to succeed. If you look into the post-second World War period, the United States became great by creating alliances all over the world and having influence. If Donald Trump thinks that by stopping US aid, he will help — no, he will only create gaps which will be filled-in effectively and very quickly by someone else.

Unfortunately, Europe is now not in a shape in which it could fill all the gaps that will be created by the United States. There are unfortunately other players: China, Russia, countries and such regimes, which are not friendly with us. And they wil not be friendly with the United States — Trump should realize this.

— In the famous meeting in the White House Donald Trump told that Volodymyr Zelensky didn't held strong "cards". In your view, does Zelensky hold any "cards" in the negotiations?

— Zelensky is in a very difficult position, but I think that he now holds an ace, because Donald Trump has completely miscalculated the situation. I think that all these actions that were taken by Donald Trump mocking and bullying Zelensky have boosted up his popularity.

One of the cards that Zelensky is holding is the, I would say, unquestionable unity of the Ukrainian people. I was very surprised (it was a great signal, like heavenly music) when we had Petro Poroshenko at a meeting of the Foreign Affair Committee here in the European Parliament and he started his speech with supporting Zelensky. The leader of the opposition to the current president, said that he himself and his party support the president because Ukraine now needs unity. So, the card that Zelensky is holding is the unity of the Ukrainian people and the support they show to him.

— As a Czech citizen, what would be your tip for the citizens of Belarus, looking at history of your country? How to survive in the country, which is controlled by a hateful larger power?

— Resist. I am too young to remember all that was happening during the communist era in Czechoslovakia. I was born in 1984. I was five years old when communism collapsed. All I was doing was sitting at home watching TV where there were pictures of riot police beating up people in the streets.

But I think in Belarus your opposition is united and the different leaders of the opposition and people who engage in movements against Lukashenka speak one language — it is very important. If you turn to Russia, their opposition is scattered. They don't speak in one language and don't follow the same goal. The same goal of Belarusian opposition is to get rid of the dictator and live in a free country, which will be part of Europe. That is something that you can be very proud of. As long as you keep the unity, you will resist.

I am not in the position to give you any advice because I lived in a free country for the most part of my life except the first five years, but I think that you have support from the outside. This turned to be crucial for Czechoslovak dissent. In the eighties, when Václav Havel, our future president was the leader of the dissent in Czechoslovakia, he was visited by François Mitterrand, the French president who came for talks to Czechoslovakia, and Václav Havel was the first person he has visited before going to the Prague Castle to meet the president. It was a display of support which communist regime couldn't digest at all, their reaction was putting Václav Havel to prison, but I think that was something that was essential. I think that the leaders of the Belarus opposition are doing a great job in keeping the world occupied with the idea of free Belarus.

It is now up to us to show the courage that you are showing. We haven't found ways how to help people who are in Lukashenka's prisons. Sending postcards to them is a nice show of being aware of the problem, but do we know that the postcards get delivered? Do we know that it has some effect? I don't think so. It is the same with the resolutions that we produce. We are masters in producing resolutions, but there should be concrete steps and actions behind the resolutions. If we have countries inside the EU that still somehow keep good ties with Lukashenka then that is a problem — this guy should be isolated.

I believe that in addition to the EU's efforts to support the Belarusian opposition, each member state should also play a separate role. For example, they could simplify the visa and political asylum procedures for members of the Belarusian opposition.

I think we should also find ways on how to support the dissent in Belarus, the way François Mitterrand supported the Czechoslovak dissent. So there is still a lot that we must do because you are doing a lot.

— True leaders who are fighting the regime for decades are now in prison. We don't hear anything about them for years: no letters, no phone calls, nothing. Last question: do you see future Belarus in the EU?

— I would be delighted to have Belarus as part of the EU. The bigger we are, the stronger we are. I know about the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This area has always played a great role in European history.

If we are to divide Europe into the East and the West and whatever else, we will never move forward. Only by being united can we oppose such regimes that we have in Russia now. We cannot afford to lose against Russia by admitting that it will consume the European countries and attempt recreate the Soviet Union. No, not at all.

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