High price to pay: EU and UN wrestle with Middle East war

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This European Council summit was meant to be different — when Europe finally got serious about boosting homegrown industry and driving its own destiny without reacting to Donald Trump. But it was not to be. POLITICO’s Zoya Sheftalovich, Nick Vinocur and Zia Weise join EU Confidential host Sarah Wheaton for late-night analysis of the response to high energy prices fueled by the war in Iran and the growing rage at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. That’s followed by Anne McElvoy’s exclusive interview with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who suggested both Iran and Israel may have committed war crimes for attacking energy infrastructure — and offered a warning about the challenge of clearing the Strait of Hormuz. Send any questions or comments to us on our WhatsApp: +32 491 05 06 29. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, are all the traitors present?
0:02.5	Let's get started, shall we?
0:04.5	From rags to riches.
0:05.8	I'm so sick of this.
0:07.0	Working like a dog and being treated worse.
0:09.0	Yorkshire to New York.
0:10.6	Poor climbers, you and me.
0:12.3	A life dedicated to revenge.
0:14.3	Let's make this an occasion to remember.
0:16.9	A Woman of Substance on Channel 4, stream now.
0:19.9	It was not supposed to be like this. A Woman of Substance on Channel 4, stream now.
0:24.1	It was not supposed to be like this.
0:27.8	For once, the EU was going to set its own agenda.
0:32.2	European countries agree that they need to take charge of their own destiny, and this week, leaders from the EU 27 were going to hunker down
0:36.6	and get serious about boosting European
0:39.8	industry. You know, everybody's favorite C word, competitiveness. I mean, that's the word I expected
0:47.3	to be echoing around this corridor as I stand here towards the end of the latest European Council
0:52.2	Summit. Nope. Once again, Donald Trump hijacked. towards the end of the latest European Council summit.
0:54.9	Nope.
0:58.9	Once again, Donald Trump hijacked the agenda.
1:03.2	This time, it's the war he's waging on Iran alongside Israel.
1:09.9	Europe isn't officially involved, but it sure is affected by snarled trade routes,
	...

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