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In the phoenix program, Eva Lindenau speaks personally with Claudia Major, head of the security policy research group at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, about, among other things, the consequences of Donald Trump's election, new challenges for the EU and possible peace in Ukraine. "Trump wants a different state. He wants to completely change the system," says security expert Claudia Major from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "And for us in Europe that means that the basis for business is changing fundamentally. It is not a small change, but the structure of how the USA functions, how it sees itself in the world, how it acts in general, is changing fundamentally." Loyalty, but also "provocation or disruption" play a role in his personnel decisions, Major continued. "Appointing people of whom you say, yes, that's not possible. I can't appoint a justice minister who has problems with the justice system. I can't appoint a businessman who then dictates how companies are taxed. There is a conflict of interest there. And that is obviously not a problem for Trump.” The Europeans must prepare themselves for this “state restructuring”, but also for the “unpredictability” of Donald Trump and for the fact that the “big foreign policy priority” is China and the Pacific, “it is not Europe. So, China, Israel, and eventually Europe. And Germany is the focus of criticism.” It is “extremely unfortunate” that the two large states in Europe that would otherwise have shaped policy, namely France and Germany, are both “completely absorbed in domestic politics”, explains political scientist Claudia Major. Although Germany has a “functioning government”, there is “no power vacuum”, it is not a government “that is currently acting as the great crisis manager or as a great leading power”. But the main contact for Donald Trump would not have been Germany, Major continued, “nor would it have been France, but Giorgia Meloni. Perhaps also Viktor Orban. So, the question is how the centers of power in Europe are being re-assessed.”