Edna Brady: UK Correspondent on German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier's royal visit

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier is currently visiting the UK, marking the first UK state visit by a German head of state in decades.

"The overriding two themes from this state visit is the brilliant relationship between Berlin and London now, and strength and solidarity for Ukraine from these two countries," UK Correspondent Edna Brady told Heather du Plessis-Allan. 

Brady also touches on the large sum of seized Russian money, which Europe hopes to use to rebuild Ukraine. 

LISTEN HERE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the Brady UK correspondent Aloinda, Hello, Heather, great to
speak to you again. Charles was very funny with the German,
wasn't he? Yes, I thought this was a brilliant speech.
So the President of Germany is here, Frank Walter Steinmeier.
He's here on a three day state visit with his
wife Elka, a former judge, and Charles hosted a banquet

(00:21):
for them in Windsor last night, and he flicked between
English and German very confidently and pointed out that there
is now a brilliant working relationship between Germany and the
UK and long may it continue. And then Steinmeier in
his speech just pointed out just how difficult things got
in the years after Brigsit and how much stronger the

(00:42):
ties are now. So three day state visit, the state
banquet is done in Windsor. Tomorrow they will go to
Coventry City to look at the ruins of the cathedral
bomb by the Luftwaffe in nineteen forty and has not
been touched since. So poignant touched to it as well.
But the over two themes from this state visit is
the brilliant relationship between Berlin and London now and strength

(01:07):
and solidarity for Ukraine from these two countries. So what
do you make of the fact that Andrew's staying in
Royal Lodge for longer? How's that going to go down
with punters? It's entirely predictable because of the entitled nature
and arrogance of the man. And he can't read the room. Look,
I think most people are struggling to pay their own
bills this Christmas, and people who have mortgages and rent

(01:30):
and pay their way in life, as opposed to someone
who's never paid a penny for anything ever his toast.
I mean, he just needs to read the room and
not just get out of Royal Lodge. I think he
needs to get out of the UK and just for
his own good start afresh. Somewhere. There are whispers about
Bahrain or somewhere else in the Middle East, but what

(01:50):
we're hearing today and Charles's people dispute this, But the
agreement was that he would have twelve months to leave
Royal Lodge. I think people will be very upset if
we're looking at Christmas twenty twenty six and Andrews still
in that mansion. I suspect you might be right on
that one. Now do you think that the Russian money
that's been seized will be helped to rebuild Ukraine in

(02:13):
the inn, So this is an awful lot of money
that is sitting in various different financial institutions in Belgium.
It's about one hundred and sixty billion en Z dollars,
crazy amount of cash. It is originally of Russian origin,
and the European Union sees it within weeks of the
invasion of Ukraine. So what's happening now is Ursula Vonderlyon

(02:34):
has made it clear. So she's the boss of the
European Union. She has made it clear that that amount
of money will fund Ukraine for the next two years,
keep the country alive, keep people afloat, keep them going.
And she's made it clear she will take that money
and use it for Ukraine. Now, the problem is the
Belgians are very very worried. Two things. They fear being

(02:57):
made liable for that amount of money if the Russians
legally come after Belgium. And then secondly they're worried about
if they hand the money over with Putin then start
hybrid war or carrying out nasty little attacks on Belgian
soil or Belgian citizens or anyone he wants to take
out in Belgium. So it's up for discussion, but Ursula
underline has made a clear one hundred and sixty billion

(03:19):
big ones sitting in Belgium. We can make good use
of that for the people of Ukraine and hurt the
Russians at the same time. Yeah, Inda, thanks as always,
really appreciate your time that we'll talk to you next week.
This is Into Brady, UK correspondent. For more from Hither
Dupleassy Alan Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.