captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> hello, i'm llewellyn king, the host of "white house chronicle," which is coming right up. we have a special guest for you today. we live in a time where there is a criticism of europe, and it is particularly apparent during this election season, people talking in a sort of rather appalling way about socialism -- socialist europe, socialist

medicine, the european disease, whatever. of course, europe is an enormous place with about 30 countries, 27 of them in the european union. today we have the ambassador, the european union ambassador to the united states, and the -- we will discuss some of the ideas and the difference between what is said about europe and what is happening in europe today. >> many have spoken out on the need to transition to a clean energy future. at exelon, we are acting. in 2020, we are committed to reducing, offsetting, or displacing more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually through greening of our operations, helping customers reduce emissions, and offering more low-carbon electricity in the marketplace. at exelon, we're taking action

and we are seeing results. >> "white house chronicle" is produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television. and now your program host, nationally syndicated columnist llewellyn king, and co-host linda gasparello. >> hello again, and thank you for coming along. i promised you the ambassador of the european union to the united states, and here he is. ambassador vale de almeida -- i'm sorry -- joao vale de almeida, welcome to the u.s. why is europe getting a bad political slur? do you know why that would be? >> some would say there is no such thing as bad press. i do not think it is bad press.

i think there is a debate about the relationship between the u.n. and the united states, how much can one can affect the other. there is something that we learn from the financial crisis of 2009, we are in this together. the beginning of the financial crisis started here, affected europe and the whole world. what happens in europe, as much as what happens in china, also affect the united states. what we need, and the lesson that i think we must learn is that we need to work together. >> there has been some turning of the tables because for years europeans tended to want to say disparaging things about the u.s. -- not hatred, but just disparaging things. i lived in britain at one time, and i heard it, and particularly among left-wing intellectuals, to disparage the u.s., its system, its attitude, there has been some turning the tables now.

once again, it is wrong. it was wrong when the europeans were disparaging the u.s., and it is wrong now, isn't it? >> i prefer to focus on what we have in common. >> which is enormous. we have a whole culture in common. >> shared values and culture. we live in a democracy, and protect human rights, individual freedom, the rule of law. all of this we have in common. if you look around the world, that many places, people with whom you share so much. this is obviously for europeans and four americans, and this should be the focus of our attention. we should try to maximize the most of what we have in common. >> mr. ambassador, so much creativity has come out of europe, and then it was transferred to the u.s., the other side of the atlantic, so you had these two great sources of creativity in the world, music, literature, has overwhelmed anywhere else in

the world it is an extraordinary people, the european people, and their american descendants. >> we have done a lot together. you have helped us a number of times, crucially, to bring peace back to europe, also to reconstruct europe after the world war. we helped you elsewhere. there is a strong alliance that we need to make stronger because today's world is a complex one. >> some of the republican hesitancy about europe started with the u.s. invasion of iraq, and the resistance to that in europe, the ambivalence about it in europe. our secretary of defense was talking about old europe and new europe and fissures in europe that may or may not exist. >> best friends do not need to agree on everything all the time, but they still remain best friends. and this should be the focus of

our relationship. in today's world, much more predictable than during the cold war. yet music, new actors coming to the top table, non-state sources. -- coming to the talking table, non-state sources of terrorism. we are confronted with a complex reality. so when times are tough, you know, you can count on best friends. the experience we have had together in the last few months on issues like iran or syria, they tell us a lot about when and where you can really count on your best friends. >> we will come back to these things, but let's talk a little bit about the euro. when the euro was introduced, there was a certain euphoria about it. much of that from travelers. they would not have all this change when they move across europe, etc. many economists pointed out

there was an inherent weakness in the system, and that was, what would you do when northern europe was overheated economically and the southern tier was failing, which is essentially what has happened, except ireland is in the southern tier. i thought that there would be some mechanism dreamt up to deal with the problem, the rigidity of the single currency. in the u.s., we deal with it by way of mobility, by capital mobility, but you do not have that type of mobility. >> you have a group of 27 countries, or 17 that share the euro, you cannot compare that with the united states. you have centuries of building up a federal state. we are 60 years old, not even 60 years old. so you have to consider we are in the initial stages of construction.

>> mr. ambassador, is there an effect? >> there is, and that is what we are demanding the last couple of years. -- implementing the last couple of years. i agree with you, when we started the euro, maybe it was not a perfect construction. but in a political process, you cannot start with perfect realities. you did not start with perfect realities in the united states. you were incrementally establishing what the united states is today. the same with europe. we started in the of a region in the late 50's. -- we started in the late 1950's, a customs union,: steel community. >> i'm old enough. i remember. >> we evolved toward commona bigger budget, and lately to a single currency. this is a major development. if you think countries are ready to abandon their national currencies in favor of a single european currency, but we started with an incremental process. we had to build this building

from scratch. what we have done now -- what is important for your listeners -- what we're doing now is exactly addressing those, let's say, liabilities, built into the system. we dealt with emergency situations like the one in greece. we are at the same time revamping -- it is a small revolution we are doing in europe. what we call economic governance, the way countries contract. >> a loss of sovereignty in some countries? >> we call it a transfer of sovereignty. we do not believe it is a loss, in the sense that you do not lose, because you still control democratically. the decision making process. we agree, and that is what our member states have done. they agree that for their best interest, some parts of their sovereignty should be managing collectively, when we take decisions, they have an impact in each other country. this is a great successful project mind you, we're living

the lotus period -- the longest period of peace in continental europe. >> part of the reason behind the european union and its many stages to get here was people like manet and schumann saying no more interest in warfare. 2000 years of killing each other. for god's sake, let's stop by becoming one country. and they look across the atlantic to see how what is done. >> we learned from your experience and i hope you learned from ours as well. >> i wish that america would be a little more open in adopting ideas now. it used to be. jefferson was the first example of rushing to europe and gathering all he could, from architecture, literature, art into his american existence. but it is only in very recent times that this rift has appeared in the relationship, at least across the board when

more people have been hostile. mostly from conservative people. we had a guest who said that on the show that you want to line up in the street. -- line up in the street to get a heart transplant. i said, when were you last in europe? >> it is not my job to interfere in the american domestic -- >> let me just say it is only normal that people have opinions about the systems in other countries. we may have opinions about elements of the american society, you may have about europe. what i would like to see is a fair and balanced objective view of what europe is today. what do you see? you see half a billion people living in democracy, ensuring individual freedom, rule of law.

protection of human rights. from the shores of my home town in lisbon in portugal, to the borders of russia. there reston, i hope, from iceland's to cyprus, we are welcoming now the 28 member of the european union, croatia, next year. we just accepted serbia as a candidate country. we will start negotiations in view of membership. we are bringing the balkans into the european union, bringing to an end decades of conflict in the balkans. all this with respect to diversity of our peoples, our culture. we have 23 official languages. this is a magnificent project that, at the same time, provides high levels of quality of life, environment protection, consumer protection in the european union, and also at the same time, far from being what is described somewhere here, these are countries that promote free enterprise, that promote

entrepreneurship. that promote foreign investment, as shown by the statistics revealing the importance of -- american foreign investment. >> we will take a little pause while i identify statements primarily for the benefit of our listeners. sirius xm radio. this program can be heard every saturday, channel 124. politics of the united states for people of the united states. it also can be seen from around the world on the voice of america, and seen happily on 200 television stations in the united states. i am llewellyn king, the host of the program, and i'm talking with the ambassador of the european union to the united states. he is joao vale de almeida, and i probably made a mess of his

name. names are not my strong point. it started with my name being called llewellyn. and never got it right after that. my father could not pronounce my own name, and he gave it to me. so, i feel somehow -- >> i am in good company. >> ambassador, we talk sometimes in europe, you talk in europe, it is talked about here, about the democracy deficit. you have europe, parliament, its bureaucracy centered in brussels, and you have the individual parliaments, and some of the laws are not voted on by the individual parliaments, but they are approved by those countries. if you are a young politician, say, in lisbon, in your home country of portugal, where do you pursue your brilliant career today? -- your political career today? do you pursue it in the

portuguese legislature or in the federal legislature in brussels and salzburg? >> i think i will try to do both. there is no way in europe today to be a defacto politician if -- effective politician is -- if you do not have a european dimension. let me address the issue of the democratic deficit. i am totally opposed to that view. for a very simple reason. our system is full of them. -- fully democratic. what happens is, as i explained, there is a transfer of sovereignty from the national level to the european level. those who take decisions at the european level are fully mandated by the people to be to the 27 countries because you have a european parliament, part of the decisionmaking process, which is directly elected by all the cities in the european union. there is no difference in the system of collection of a -- the election of a national national parliaments or the european

parliament. exactly the same kind of system. you vote to put a vote, and members represent you in the european parliament. the other side are the representatives of the national government by definition, national governments are the results of election, so democratically appointed. the two branches of the decision making, those who represent the states, and those who are elected directly by the citizens, they are effectively fully accountable. they are fully democratic. our system is democratic. >> how do you manage 23 different languages? the lingue franca is english, is in it? >> when you have, on a daily basis, we use some languages more than others. it used to be french. in the 1980's, inside the european institutions, all the meetings. now it is rather english. french is still used as well. germany is one of the working languages that one can use in

meetings and documents. but the languages are equally treated as far as legislation is concerned. if you are a farmer increase or -- in greece or a fisherman in portugal or a shopkeeper in sweden, you can have access to the legislation that impact on your life in your own language. it exists here it is the one you should refer to prove you can talk to engage with european institutions in your own modern tongue, so there is full protection of the rights of languages of all the members. >> what are you going to do about the most cantankerous major member, my former homeland, britain? >> the united kingdom is an important member of the european union. it has decided in a few areas to opt out, as we call it. it has decided not to join the

single currency. it has decided to stay out in some areas of the common policy, a common action, but it is still a full member of the european union. i have seen in this country sometimes confusion between the fact that britain did not sign to this new international treaty that has just been signed in brussels, meaning that britain is leading the european union. -- leaving the european union. that is not true. the united kingdom is a full member of the european union. >> what are we going to do about greece long term? if it keeps the euro, -- there is the feeling it will not be able to fix its internal economy because it will not be able to devalue. that is the central weakness of the euro, that you cannot devalue and make your experts -- exports more attractive. >> you no longer have -- you have a single currency, single central bank, monetary policy,

single interest rate policy determined by the european central bank. that is factually true. but that is compatible with the adjustments of the greek economy and the greek public finances. that is exactly what we're doing today, helping greece adjust, adapt, restructure, reform in order to stay in the euro. with a competitive economy. >> there are those who say that if we -- of course getting out would be unbelievably complex. there is no mechanism. >> much more costly than staying in. >> you will see a gradual the -- de population of young people going elsewhere in the union for work, and greece will be even more than it already is a country of old people, and that its exports will not be competitive, it will be totally reliant on terrorism, --

tourism essentially, along the mediterranean coast, and this is a pretty terrible future for it. do you think it will come back as a full functional economy? >> we are fully confident that the greek people, the politicians, with the help of their neighbors -- this is an issue of solidarity as well -- we are fully comprehend -- confident that greece will come back. it will take some time, and there will be difficult times for the greek people. one should not be complacent about that or underestimate the difficulties. but we are on the right track. what comes from here is that we have solidarity. there is the need for discipline. there is solidarity on the part of the other members. >> what happens, ambassador, when a country moves towards a political posture that is not acceptable? there is a great swing to the right, for example, that has

taken place in hungary. what effect does this have, and is there any discipline the community should apply or feels it should apply? >> one of the pillars of the european project is the rule of law. we are based on law. it is a legal construction. a political one based on a very solid legal foundation. we have treaties, and the countries that join the union have to respect the principles, values, and the letter of european law. that is what has been happening since the beginning of the european union, and the country that wants to join has to be ready to apply, respect, and obey everything that is part of our legal system. the case with hungary, the european commission, the guardian of the treaty, has to be very attentive to the respect by member states of european legislation, and that is what the committee has done.

-- european commission has done. we have launched a number of procedures against hungary because we have doubts. the european commission has doubts about the compatibility of some of the laws. >> adjacently, maybe the press law. >> a number of issues. the european commission has concluded in a number of these cases, hungary was doing the right thing, and in a number of cases they were not doing enough. for some of the cases we initiated, they are not yet close. they will be pursued because we are insisting that we need more guarantees. the system is there. the system is there. if there are doubts about the fact that one country is not fully respecting the law, the spirit and the letter of the law, the european commission, guardian of the treaty, can act. and ultimately, if need be, the european court of justice will have the final word.

>> can issue a judgment that can be enforced, a punitive judgment? >> absolutely. the judgments are fully applicable and enforceable. >> if there is a definite tendency to fascism, which is the concern. i can say it, maybe you cannot say it. what can the european court do? it would say you are in violation. then what happens? >> there are mechanisms established in the treaty for these kinds of situations. let me be very clear, i am not accepting your from work, what -- your framework. i'm saying is that the european commission doubts about some pieces of legislation in hungary, in some cases we are happy with the developments that have taken place in hungary, and we are about some clarification.

-- to close, pending some minor clarification. we are confident and hopeful that the government will do what -- hungarian authorities will do what is is necessary to respect european law. >> you spend a lot of time on capitol hill, talking to our congress. i have heard your hard working, all over washington, pushing the european cause. do you find a tendency to accept that this is already going to be the asian century? >> not at all. >> i would posit that it could be the european century. >> let me give you my personal experience. that is what i have been living through in the past 18 months here in washington. i see, of course, a focus on asia and china. but that happens in europe as well. europe is investing a lot in china. everybody is thinking about what is coming out of asia. the same as in here.

but that does not mean that being concerned and interested by china, it does not mean you should forget europe or that we should forget america. there is room for both. in fact, i believe that it is good for us, americans and europeans, with china and asia and the emerging economies, to share notes, to compare these countries, how to bring these countries to take a larger share of responsibility in the way the world is governed today. i do not see a divorce between us and america. on the contrary, i see many in this town realizing that, while they have to focus and invest in china, they need to keep a very good relationship with europe. >> as we move to the end of this conversation, there is a problem that both the u.s. and europe have in common, and that is illegal immigration changing the nature of the society, the

culture. what can we share? what can we learn about illegal immigration that we can share, or about immigration in general? yours is from eastern europe and north africa, ours is primarily from the south. >> we should make it clear discussion rigid distinction between illegal immigration and immigration. as much as we should fight illegal immigration and the causes, which lie in developing countries, to a large extent,we should be very clear about the complexity about the issue of immigration. but i think the starting point has to be that both europe and america are the product of immigration, the product of diversity. in fact, europe, in my view, is also a tribute to diversity because we were able to bring together very different countries, very different people with different historical cultural backgrounds, brought together around the same

values and principles and the same interests. one thing is clear. our societies, our aging society is, more in europe than here, but still -- we simply cannot survive without immigration. we need to be clear about this. we need labor force. we will not find the labor force in our own countries. the question is how to do it. the other question is how to integrate the immigrant economies into our society. >> it has been a great pleasure. >> thank you very much. >> we will continue the discussion. that is our program for today. we hope you will visit us at whchronicle.com, where you can read articles. -- some of my articles and where you can see previous programs. cheers.

>> many have spoken out on the need to transition to a clean energy future. at exelon, we are acting. in 2020, we are committed to reducing, offsetting, or displacing more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually through greening of our operations, helping customers reduce emissions, and offering more low-carbon electricity in the marketplace. at exelon, we're taking action and we are seeing results. >> "white house chronicle" is produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television. from washington, d.c., this has been "white house chronicle," a weekly analysis of the news with insight and a sense of humor, featuring llewellyn king, linda gasparello, and guests.

this program may be seen on pbs stations and cable access channels. to view the program online, visit us at whchronicle.com. to view the program online, visit us at whchronicle.com.