Sawt Falasteen - EU chief to defend Trump trade deal in parliament

Entering year two of her second mandate, von der Leyen's "State of the Union" speech will aim to rally parliament behind her agenda on the bloc's twin priorities of defence and competitiveness.

But she can expect a cool welcome from an assembly that found little to celebrate in the accord with Trump -- despite a broad admission that Europe's security dependence on America left its hands tied for the tariffs fight.

"Everyone agrees it's a bad deal that reflects Europe's weakness," said Valerie Hayer, leader of parliament's centrist bloc Renew.

The July accord locks in a 15-percent tariff on most EU exports to the United States, with exemptions for some areas -- including aircraft -- but not for key others, such as wine and spirits.

In exchange, Europe said it would make massive purchases of US energy, scrap tariffs on US industrial goods, and grant preferential access for a range of seafood and farm goods.

"Von der Leyen will try to sell her deal to lawmakers, to get us to swallow the bitter pill," predicted Marina Mesure, an EU lawmaker with The Left group who called the deal "a surrender to a predatory United States."

More than half of Europeans -- 52 percent -- view the deal as a "humiliation", according to a five-nation poll conducted by Cluster17, for European affairs publication Le Grand Continent.

- 'Humiliation' -

"It's a difficult time," conceded an official inside von der Leyen's European Commission, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. "Europe appears weak."

"But on Trump, what matters at the end of the day is not so much the deal -- it's what comes after," the official added. "If he does not uphold the deal, we will have to be very tough."

With the ink barely dry on the accord, Trump has fired off a new volley of threats targeting the EU's tech regulations -- and most lately the massive antitrust fine against Google last week.

For von der Leyen, selling the deal in parliament is about more than just public relations: in the coming weeks lawmakers will vote on a text lowering EU tariffs, key to rolling out the full agreement with Washington.

So far, von der Leyen's main allies are split: the centrists won't yet commit to backing the text, while the socialist bloc threatens to vote against.

"To argue that having a bad deal is better than no deal is just totally unacceptable," Iratxe Garcia Perez, leader of the Socialists and Democrats, said Tuesday.

Renew's Hayer concedes, however, that von der Leyen had a mandate to negotiate for EU states -- including powerhouses France and Germany -- and that many businesses wanted the predictability of a deal, even a lopsided one.

- Gaza inaction -

Von der Leyen's own party, the European People's Party (EPP), will back the accord -- without sugar-coating it.

"Obviously, 15-percent export tariffs to the US doesn't make us happy," said EPP boss Manfred Weber.

But with an American president "who loves tariffs", he said, "that is the best that we can get -- and what we need for our economy and our stability".

The hard-right ECR group -- which includes the party of Italian leader Giorgia Meloni -- strikes a similar tone.

Trade aside, the EU chief is expected to vaunt the bloc's mobilisation in support of Ukraine's war effort -- with France and Germany among countries pledging to join a "reassurance force" to deploy there after any peace deal with Russia.

She may also preview the 19th package of EU sanctions being drawn up against Russia -- and its oil revenue in particular -- an area where cooperation with Washington has rekindled in the wake of July's trade accord.

But the EU chief can expect a fraught reception over the bloc's failure to weigh in on the Gaza conflict, due to longstanding divisions between countries backing Israel and those more sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Those divisions have been on show inside von der Leyen's top team as well -- with Spanish commissioner Teresa Ribera calling the Gaza war a "genocide" and slamming the bloc's inaction.

O.Salim--SF-PST